Nearly 70 percent of Americans say they lack confidence that the U.S. will achieve its goals in fighting the terrorist group ISIS, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Annenberg poll. The findings come in the wake of President Barack Obama's national address announcing new measures to combat the Sunni militants.
Pressure is mounting on the U.S. and its allies to cripple the militants, who have waged a brutal campaign across Syria and Iraq. ISIS already has beheaded two American journalists and on Saturday released a video showing the execution of a third Westerner, British aid worker David Haines.
The poll - conducted before the latest execution emerged - showed that a combined 68 percent of Americans say they have 'very little' or 'just some' confidence that Obama's goals of degrading and eliminating the threat posed by ISIS will be achieved. Just 28 percent said they had 'a great deal' or 'quite a bit' of confidence. Still, 62 percent of voters say they support Obama's decision to take action against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, while 22 percent oppose it.
'The bottom line: The president has made his case to the American public, and like other presidents who faced war and peace issues, support usually follows,' said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who helped conduct the survey. 'The difference in this military encounter is that, right out of the box, Americans are skeptical if this will work.'
The poll also shows that 38 percent of voters approve of Obama's job in handling foreign policy.
A separate survey that re-contacted respondents from last week's national NBC/WSJ poll after the president's speech found a slight increase in the percentage of Americans who believe that military action against ISIS is in the nation's interest, with a rise to 68 percent from 65 percent.
In addition, 26 percent of those re-contacted said that Obama's speech on Wednesday had given them a more favorable impression of the president. Another 20 percent had a less favorable opinion and 53 percent said it made no difference.
The latest NBC/WSJ/Annenberg poll of 554 registered voters was conducted September 11-13. It has a margin of error of plus-minus 5.5 percentage points. The NBC/WSJ re-contact survey was conducted Sept. 11-13 of 207 re-contacted voters.
First published September 14 2014, 6:00 AM
Mark Murray is the Senior Political Editor at NBC News, where he covers politics for the network, writes and edits its popular “First Read†blog, and appears daily on MSNBC and Washington DC’s NBC affiliate to discuss the latest political news. He also serves as a key manager of NBC’s political coverage, giving direction to the network’s reporters and producers. Before joining NBC News in 2003, Murray spent five years as a reporter at National Journal. And he has written freelance articles published in the New York Times (Sunday op-ed page), the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Monthly, Washingtonian magazine, and Washington City Paper. Murray is a 1996 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin (B.A.), and he resides in Washington DC.
Posted by Unknown on Sunday, September 14, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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