George W. Bush led John Kerry, among veterans, by 14 percent.
John McCain led Barack Obama, among veterans, by 22 percent.
Mitt Romney led Barack Obama, among veterans, by 24 percent.
Donald Trump leads Hillary among veterans by less than half of that, just 9 percent in a new poll, and there's every reason to believe that lead will shrink more and more, before election day.
The poll ended on May 24, just as news hit that Trump's sham veterans event in January had shortchanged veterans groups by millions of dollars. Given that news, there's every reason to believe that his lead among veterans has become even more meager in the days after the poll concluded.
The other thing to note is that the veterans community is overwhelmingly made up of white men, especially older white men, from past generations of veterans. Trump's issues with women, Latinos, and others does not explain the precipitous drop for the GOP nominee. He is undoubtedly under-performing with white men in the veterans community, too.
None of this should be a shock, however. Despite the big words about how much he loves veterans, Trump hasn't been all that respectful, or friendly, to our community.
For nearly 100 years, New York City has allowed disabled veterans to become street vendors, to make a living. Trump waged a multi-year war against them, saying they were "downgrading" the area around Trump Tower. He wrote to Mayor Bloomberg, in 2004, ""Whether they are veterans or not, they should not be allowed to sell on this most important and prestigious shopping street."
He consistently has cheapened the sacrifices veterans made, in service to America.
He told a biographer that his time at a military-themed boarding school made him feel like "I always felt like I was in the military." But when the time came to serve our nation in the real military, in Vietnam, Trump got four student deferments and a medical deferment for "bone spurs."
Infamously, on Howard Stern's show, Trump wisecracked that sleeping around and trying to escape venereal disease were his "personal Vietnam," adding, "I feel like a great and very brave soldier."
Then, most recently, he disparaged Sen. John McCain and other former prisoners of war, saying, "I like people who weren't captured."
Trump only likes veterans when he thinks they can give him PR cover -- like when he needed a reason to duck a debate moderated by Megyn Kelly, leading to his sham fundraiser for veterans.
Otherwise, Trump feels no reason not to disrespect our service, or kick us out from in front of his buildings.
This morning, he got a rude awakening, with this new poll of veterans. The reliable lead for the GOP among veterans is quickly evaporating. If this keeps up, Hillary Clinton may be the first Democratic nominee, in a long time, to win the veterans vote, outright.
Turns out, when #TrumpHatesVets, they don't like him much, in return.