Donald Trump is leading Hillary Clinton among military and veteran voters by double digits, according to a new NBC/Survey Monkey poll.
{mosads}Fifty-five percent of active and former military members support Trump, while 36 percent back Clinton. But nearly half — 47 percent — say they are not confident in Trump’s ability as commander in chief of the military. Sixty-four percent said the same about Clinton.
The poll comes the same day the candidates are set to participate in a Commander in Chief forum, hosted by the IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) and airing on NBC and MSNBC at 8 p.m. ET.
Clinton will go first and take questions from moderator Matt Lauer and members of the audience — which will largely be comprised of veterans and active service members — for 30 minutes before Trump takes the stage.
Among all voters, 59 percent said they would not be confident in Trump’s ability as commander in chief. Fifty-three percent are not confident in Clinton’s ability to lead the military either.
Trump also leads when voters are asked who would be best for veterans issues. Among all voters, he leads her in this category 40 percent to 39 percent. With military voters, he beats Clinton 53 percent to 28 percent.
But the former secretary of State is the candidate the voters trust most with nuclear weapons, leading Trump 44 percent to 24 percent. Twenty-six percent say they don’t trust either candidate to handle nuclear weapons.
Clinton even holds a slight lead in this category among military voters, 34 percent to 33 percent. A quarter say they don’t trust either candidate.
The NBC News|SurveyMonkey poll was conducted online from August 29-Sept. 4 among 32,226 registered voters, including 3,358 who previously served or are currently serving in the military.