Military leadership poll shows surprising gap between experts and public views
Recent poll of international-relations experts shows unexpected results about military leadership capabilities. Survey reveals stark contrast between academic views and general public opinion on top candidates
Last fall a thought-provoking survey by the TRIP Project (based at William & Mary) showed big differences in how experts see military leadership skills. The poll focused on Donald Trump and Kamala Harris as potential commanders-in-chief
The research-project targeted international-relations scholars whose opinions differ from regular voters; most experts showed more trust in Harrisʼs military-leadership abilities than Trumps. A notable finding shows that even conservative academics dont fully back their partyʼs front-runner - about 41% of Republican scholars expressed low confidence in Trumpʼs military-command abilities
The expert opinions create an interesting contrast with public views: a YouGov poll done around the same time showed that average Americans see both candidates roughly the same way when it comes to military leadership (which goes against what most scholars think)
The survey highlights a clear split between academic expertise and public perception; while scholars have strong doubts about one candidates military-leadership skills everyday voters dont see much difference between the two. This gap between expert and public views raises questions about how people judge leadership abilities in different ways
