From YouGov:

YouGov’s latest research shows, however, that officers in the military are held in much greater esteem than their civilian superiors, and that they are widely viewed as having the best interests of the country in mind instead of their own selfish concerns. 70% of Americans believe that military officers generally want what is best for the country. When it comes to Congressmen, however, 71% of Americans believe that they want what is best for themselves, along with 59% for local politicians.

Poll after poll shows just how detestable Congress and politicians are. Congress is barely out of single digits when it comes to approval. Many politicians are upside down on favorable/unfavorable. This poll shows that people across the entire political spectrum think Congress members put themselves before country by a huge margin. (71% put themselves before country).

So, why is it that so many Republicans think the answer is supporting a military takeover? That is to say, why is there so much support among Republicans for a coup where the US military takes over the powers of the federal government?

The numbers are staggering:
For Republicans, 43% support a scenario where the US military takes over the federal government, 32% oppose.

For Democrats, 20% support, but 51% oppose. Among Independents, 29% support while 38% oppose.

It doesn’t get better when you look at whether active duty personnel should be more involved in politics or not: Democrats polled 48% think active duty military personnel should be more involved in politics versus 36% who think they should stay out of politics. Republicans polled 69% think active duty military personnel should be more involved in politics versus 23% who think they should stay out of politics.

According to YouGov, the polling for support of a coup grows if people think that the government is violating the constitution (let’s just ignore that the coup would itself be a violation of the constitution and the oath of those who are leading it). That’s even as there’s consistency among party affiliation for supporting lawful orders (and even following orders that the military officer thinks unconstitutional).

We see this kind of thing in action already - Oath Keepers who seek to intimidate lawful government officials as in the Kim Davis case.

This is a very troubling trend indeed, and I fear that the GOP is truly going off the rails with their extremism pushing this kind of talk to the forefront.

The full poll is here.