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An overwhelming number of voters believe the United States is involved in too many foreign conflicts and should pull back its troops, according to a new poll conducted for The Hill.
Seventy-two percent of those polled said the United States is fighting in too many places, with only 16 percent saying the current level of engagement represented an appropriate level. Twelve percent said they weren’t sure.
A new CBS News/New York Times poll shows President Obama's overall approval rating has jumped by an impressive 11 percentage points in the wake of the U.S. military mission which killed Osama bin Laden, and there is overwhelming support for how Mr. Obama handled the situation.
But Americans do not feel safer. In fact, the poll shows that six out of every ten Americans believe the threat of terrorism will increase in the U.S. over the next few months as a result of bin Laden's death.
In the immediate aftermath of the targeted killing of Osama bin Laden, President Obama’s approval rating has jumped higher, with big increases in the number of Americans giving him high marks on dealing with terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan.
The president gets big bounces on dealing with Afghanistan, with his approval rating soaring to 60 percent, and on handling the threat of terrorism, where he recorded a career high of 69 percent.
A new BBC World News America/Harris Poll examines American attitudes to U.S. military intervention in other countries, from Afghanistan and Bosnia to Libya and Darfur, and finds that there are widespread disagreements about almost all of the six countries where the U.S. intervened and three countries where it did not. However there was widespread agreement that the U.S. should not be the "world's policeman" (67% to 11%) and that each case where intervention is possible should be considered separately rather than using a predetermined set of policies (63% vs. 25%).
The radicalization of American Muslims is not the top domestic terrorist concern. By a wide 49-32 percent margin, more voters think a terrorist attack in their area will come from an anti-government American fanatic than a radical Muslim-American.
Almost two-thirds of voters (64 percent) are concerned about terrorist attacks right now, which is essentially unchanged from polling conducted over the last two years.
In general, most voters -- 65 percent -- think Islam is a peaceful religion and that a small number of Muslim individuals are responsible for violence.
Among those who have heard at least a little about START, many more favor than oppose its ratification by the Senate (54% to 24%). Fully 66% of Democrats and 60% of independents want the Senate to ratify START. Republicans are divided – as many oppose (37%) as favor (37%) the treaty’s ratification. The small proportion who have heard a lot about the treaty are somewhat more likely than those who have heard a little to favor its ratification by the Senate (62% vs. 51%).
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A new CBS News poll found that 52 percent do not think it would be justified for people of certain racial or ethnic groups to be subject to additional security checks at airport checkpoints, while 37 percent think it would.
In other results an overwhelming majority approves of the use of full body scanners. Eighty-one percent think airports should use full body scanners including a majority of both men and women, Americans of all age groups, and Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. Fifteen percent said airports should not use them.
According to an AP-GFK poll majorities approve of how Obama is handling terrorism, Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama's overall approval rating is 49 percent
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54% of Americans say it was "a mistake" for the United States to send troops to Iraq, while 44% disagree. In most polls over the past five years, Gallup has found a majority calling the decision to send troops a mistake, with a high of 63% opposition in April 2008. Americans are about evenly divided as to whether things are going "well" or "badly" for the United States in Iraq.