When OK is Not OK: Public Concern About White Nationalism in the U.S. Military

• Author: Robert Ralston,Jennifer Spindel,Matthew Motta
• Published date: 01 January 2022
• Date: 01 January 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X20918394
• Subject Matter: Research Note

2022, Vol. 48(1) 228 –239

Research Note

When OK is Not OK:

Public Concern About

White Nationalism in

the U.S. Military

Robert Ralston

1,2

, Matthew Motta

3

and Jennifer Spindel

4

Abstract

Are Americansaware and concerned aboutWhite nationalism in theU.S. Military? Our

large and demographically representative survey suggests that while most Americans

suspectat least some presenceof White nationalism in themilitary, many do not viewit

as a serious problem; particularly self-identified conservatives and respondents who

hold highlyfavorable views towardmilitary service members.However, in a between-/

within-subjects experiment embedded in our survey, we show that providing infor-

mation about the issue of White nationalism in the U.S. Military increases the public’s

overall concern about White nationalism in the U.S. Military.

Keywords

civil–military relations, White nationalism, public opinion, survey experiment

In late December 2019, the Republican-led U.S. Senate removed the term “White

nationalist” from a measure designed to screen potential military enlistees as part of

the vote on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA; M. Johnson, 2019).

1

Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

2

Albritton Center for Grand Strategy, Texas A&M University, Bryan, TX, USA

3

Department of Political Science, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA

4

Department of International & Area Studies, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

Corresponding Author:

Robert Ralston, 1038 Allen Building, 4220 TAMU College Station, TX 77843, USA.

Email: ralst047@umn.edu

Armed Forces & Society

ªThe Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X20918394

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