The New York Times reports that President Trump plans to send in the Marines and other troops to Los Angeles in response to protests there. As of today, a battalion of 700 was sent to the city, in addition to 2000 National Guard troops. The Marines are famous for the slogan, “first to fight” as they are expected to be the tip of the arrow for any conflict. But do people agree that the military to should be used to manage domestic issues, especially those that are not about fighting wars?
Our data may surprise some people. Typically, we find that civilian college students are more “doves” while military-affiliated students may be thought of as “hawks”, more supportive of utilizing the military as part of national policy. In this case, we find the reverse: military affiliates, especially academy cadets, are significantly less likely to support the use of the military “To deal with domestic disorder within the U.S.” (Table 1). Only 38 percent of academy cadets believe it is very appropriate for troops to be used for this purpose while over 50 percent of civilian students do. ROTC cadets are closer to their civilian peers than academy cadets (48%) in this case (survey data collected between fall 2017 and spring 2025, N=4090).
| Civilian | ROTC | Military Academy | Total | |
| Very appropriate | 50.7% | 47.5% | 38.3% | 40.0% |
| Somewhat appropriate | 31.3% | 32.2% | 33.3% | 33.1% |
| Not very appropriate | 12.4% | 18.1% | 25.8% | 24.3% |
| No opinion | 5.5% | 2.1% | 2.6% | 2.7% |
| Total surveyed | 217 | 419 | 3403 | 4039 |
| Total % | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Table 1. Respondents Who Believe that it is Appropriate for the Military to “Deal with Domestic Disorder within the U.S.” by Military Affiliation
While it may seem that these young people are conflicted on the matter, majorities of both civilian students and cadets at least believe that that is “somewhat appropriate” to send troops in to deal with domestic issues. It seems that the word “hesitant” would be the best way to describe their views. There may be very different reasons for this hesitancy; we believe that among cadets this has less to do with political values and beliefs than about professionalism. Cadets typically see their role as fighting wars – let the police handle domestic issues. Still, the military has been used for any number of tasks, notably peacekeeping missions, and have done so successfully. Hence, the Marines sent to manage the problems associated with the protests in California will likely do their jobs well but it will not be done with great enthusiasm.
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