> 750 Military Veterans are Running for Office in 2026. 80% of Americans Trust Them

As hundreds of military veterans campaign across countless U.S. states between now and November, new polling shows that Americans trust the candidates more than the military institution itself.

A Gallup poll conducted in partnership with the cross-partisan veteran organization With Honor and released July 30 found that 77% of 1,001 adults across all 50 states trust people with military experience to perform well in office, with 70% having a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in military veterans in such roles. Just 18% responded that they have some confidence, and 10% reported very little confidence.

The poll shows that appreciation for veteran candidates extends across partisan lines, with majorities of Democrats (70%), independents (73%) and Republicans (91%) expressing this view. When age is factored into the equation, nearly eight in 10 adults aged 55 and older (79%) said they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in veterans, compared with 68% of those aged 35 to 54, and 57% of those aged 18 to 34.


Dr. Ellyn Maese, Gallup's research analyst on the project, told Military.com that this poll mirrors others Gallup has conducted regarding Americans' confidence in people and institutions over the past 20 years.

This survey collected results based on random digit dialing techniques, which she said is one of the premier probability-based sampling techniques that provides for a diverse array of responses.

"We're seeing really high levels of confidence in veterans," Maese said. "The military has long been kind of at the top of the list of high degree of confidence across Americans, second only to small businesses this year. That's been pretty consistent, so it's really tracking with what we're seeing here for military veterans as well."

This poll, conducted June 1 to 15 and with a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points, comes out as 752 veterans have run or are running for Congress in 2026, according to With Honor—representing a 47% increase from 2024, the highest number the organization has tracked since it began monitoring.

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https://www.military.com/750-military-v … mNvbTptbHQ