Large Majority of Americans Lack Confidence in Obama Mission to Destroy ISIS, Poll Shows
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 [click on link] the execution of a third Westerner, British aid worker David Haines.
“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.
