Veterans are Over Represented
People who have served our country may also be called to serve further by running for public office. Veterans have been holding public office since our first president George Washington, who was of course, a veteran. This year we have the lowest amount of veterans serving in Congress since WWII. There are currently ninety-one veterans in the 117th Congress. Let’s break down the numbers and see if this is something we should be worried about.
Although the number of vets are declining, it is still a higher percentage when compared to the population.
US population: 7% Veterans
Congress: 17% Veterans
How about females? There are currently 6 women in Congress that have military experience. In 2020, women who have served make up 10% of all veterans. Congress is a little behind on an exact reflection, but pretty close!
US population: 1.5%
Congress: 1.1%
Let’s talk parties, we have 28 democrats and 62 republicans that are prior military.
Does this reflect the actual population? Well, it is hard to determine, especially because not all veterans vote. I am going to pull data from the most recent election to compare. According to a poll taken right before the 2020 election, 52.4% of veterans said they were voting for Trump, 42.3% said they were voting for Biden, 4.6% said a third party and .8% would not vote. Republican veterans are much larger than the society it should be reflecting.
According to the most updated Minority Veteran report, minorities represent 22.6% of the veteran population. It is important to note that this report does not include women in general, but minority women only. Only 2.2% of veterans in Congress are minorities. This is interesting because although minorities are underrepresented within veterans as a whole, they are almost doubled in representation of the actual population.
US population: 0.8%
Congress: 2.2%
What about era? The number of veterans in our population has declined due to the less demanding need for troops. Post 9/11 veterans have a different experience than those veterans that have came before them. This could be an important piece to how legislation is passed. 18 of our reps joined after 9/11.
Congress is voted on by the people and does not have to have a direct representation of the people it serves. However, I do find it fascinating to compare the numbers and see how close or how far off our representatives may be from the American population. That is it, no political stance to take, I just wanted to share the numbers with you, especially because I collected most of this data myself due to the lack of information available on the internet.
Sources: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/05/the-changing-face-of-americas-veteran-population/
https://www.va.gov/vetdata/docs/SpecialReports/Minority_Veterans_Report.pdf
