Voters to Obama: Yes, We Are at War with Radical Islam
Friday, November 20, 2015
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President Obama, Hillary Clinton and other senior Democrats refuse to say
America is at war with “radical Islamic terrorism” for fear of insulting all
Muslims, but voters beg to disagree.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of Likely
U.S. Voters believe the United States is at war with radical Islamic
terrorism. Just 24% share the president’s position and disagree. Sixteen
percent (16%) are undecided.

Even 56% of Democrats believe America is at war with radical Islamic
terrorism, a view shared by 70% of Republicans and 54% of voters not
affiliated with either major party.

A staggering 92% of all voters now regard radical Islamic terrorism as a
serious threat to the United States. This includes 73% who say it is a Very
Serious one, up 23 points from 50% in October of last year.

Voters are also more reluctant now to agree with Obama that the radical
Islamic State group (ISIS) which masterminded the massacres in Paris last
weekend is not a reflection of Islam itself. A plurality (46%) still thinks
the president is right when he says ISIS does not represent true Islamic
beliefs. But that’s down noticeably from 58% who felt that way in February
after the president gave a speech equating the atrocities committed by ISIS
with past sins of Christianity. Thirty-five percent (35%) now believe ISIS
does represent Islamic beliefs. One-in-five voters (19%) are not sure.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on November 17-18, 2015 by
Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points
with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys
is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Citing the links between Syrian refugees and the killings in Paris, more
than two-dozen governors oppose Obama’s plan to bring 10,000 of those
refugees to this country. The House yesterday passed a bipartisan measure
“pausing” Obama’s plan, with enough votes to override his threatened veto,
but Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid has vowed to prevent the measure
from passing in his chamber.

Voters strongly believe, however, that the Syrian refugees pose a national
security risk, and most oppose settling them in the state where they live.

Sizable majorities across most demographic categories consider radical
Islamic terrorism a Very Serious threat to the United States. The majority
of voters in nearly all categories also believe the United States is at war
with radical Islamic terrorism.

Sixty-five percent (65%) of Democrats agree with the president, though, that
ISIS does not represent the true beliefs of Islam. Just 27% of Republicans
and 44% of unaffiliated voters share that view.

The older the voter, the more likely he or she is to disagree with the
president’s assessment of what ISIS stands for.

Voters who think the United States is at war with radical Islamic terrorism
are evenly divided over the question of whether ISIS represents true Islamic
beliefs. Sixty percent (60%) of those who do not feel America is at war
agree with Obama.

The Republican presidential hopefuls say if America doesn’t identify radical
Islamic terrorism as the enemy, it can’t begin to win the War on Terror.

As recently as January, 52% of all voters said Islam as practiced today
encourages violence more than most other religions, and 75% said Islamic
religious leaders need to do more to emphasize the peaceful beliefs of their
faith.

Even before the horrific events in Paris, voters remained less confident of
their safety here at home than they have ever been.

Sixty-eight percent (68%) consider ISIS a Very Serious threat. Forty-nine
percent (49%) feel the federal government is not devoting enough attention
to the potential threat of domestic Islamic terrorism. Both of these
findings also came before the weekend of terror in Paris.