A new poll shows that roughly 20% of young Americans have a “positive” view of Osama Bin Laden, the former al-Qaeda leader who planned the terrorist attacks on 9/11 that caused the death of almost 3,000 Americans.
According to the recent Daily Mail poll, one in five young Americans have a “positive” perspective of Bin Laden, who was killed in 2011 by U.S. Navy Seals after a 10-year manhunt in response to the 9/11 attacks. The Daily Mail poll also showed that three in 10 “Generation Z” voters answered that the Islamic terrorist’s views were a “force for good.”
The Daily Mail reported that 8% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 said they had a “completely positive” view of the terrorist leader, with 12% of 18 to 29-year-olds indicating they had a “somewhat positive” view of Bin Laden.
Additionally, the poll found that 8% of Generation Z respondents said both the “views and actions” of Bin Laden were good, while 23% said the terrorist leader’s views were good but his actions were bad.
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James Johnson, the founder of J.L. Partners, the company that provided the polling data for Daily Mail, warned, “It is hard to avoid the conclusion that there is a cancer in the American body politic: a small but sizeable group of its youngest voters.”
Johnson claimed that polls have shown “18-29-year-olds are most likely to deny the Holocaust.” Pointing to a previous poll, Johnson said young Americans are also “more likely to sympathize with Hamas.”
“And now we have this on Osama Bin Laden, the man behind the biggest attack on American soil in its history. A few weeks ago his writings went viral, with young Americans praising the Islamist leader,” Johnson added. “Some wrote that off as a few shrill voices on social media, others suggested it was fake. This poll shows that was no fad, but a reflection of real opinion amongst one in five 18-29-year-olds.”
The Daily Mail’s poll comes after videos circulated on TikTok showing young Americans praising Bin Laden’s “Letter to America,” which reveals the al-Qaeda leader’s reasoning behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In the TikTok videos, young Americans also attempted to justify the terrorist attacks against the United States.
Terry Strada, whose husband was killed during the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, told Daily Mail that the recent poll results provide a “disturbing” and “horrifying” indication that terrorism is being “normalized” in the United States.
“What is wrong with our youth?” she asked. “How do they not realize the horrors of terrorism? This is a dangerous and slippery slope to go down.”
