In the US, 66 percent of registered voters have said that ISIS and other Islamist terrorist groups in foreign countries pose a “critical threat” to the country, according to a survey conducted by Morning Consult/Politico polling. Meanwhile, a total of 61 percent of Americans said that Islamist extremism overall poses a threat to vital US interests over the next decade. These figures witnessed a double-digit rise in roughly a week after the Islamic State (IS) attack at Afghanistan’s Kabul airport that killed 13 US troops and over 90 Afghans during the evacuation.
While 54 percent of Americans considered ISIS and other Islamist terrorist groups a threat before the attack, the numbers were 49 percent for those who saw Islamist extremism as an overall threat to the US. Meanwhile, roughly 67 percent of Americans — post the Kabul airport attack, now see terrorism in the US as a threat, up from 59 percent between August 21 and 24.
The Morning Consult survey also showed that 26 percent of registered American voters said security matters, including foreign policy, terrorism and border security were the most vital aspects for them when thinking about their votes for the federal office.
In the August 28-30 survey that was conducted post the IS attack in Afghanistan, more than half of voters (52 percent) said they had “seen, read or heard a lot about the bombings” and appeared to indicate heightened concerns about the threats the US faces from terrorism.
Following the decision by US President Joe Biden to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and the subsequent manner in which the evacuations had happened, several Americans criticized him. In this matter, the Consult survey said though half of the voters supported his decision to pull out soldiers, three in five disapprove of how he has handled the matter, and more significantly, they are increasingly dissatisfied with his handling of America’s national security and foreign affairs.
In comparison to an independent survey between August 13 and 16 that Morning Consult conducted as the Taliban were recapturing Afghanistan after nearly two decades, the share of registered US voters who disapprove of Biden’s handling of security issues rose by five percentage points to 50 percent.
On the other hand, another Consult survey revealed on Saturday that Biden’s approval rating has drastically dipped following the Afghanistan situation. The President — whose approval rating was over 50 percent since he took office in January this year, has now witnessed a decline to 48 percent — an all-time low in his time at the office so far.
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