A majority of Americans want the United States to intensify its assault on ISIS following the Paris attacks, but most remain opposed to sending troops to Iraq or Syria, where the militant group is bas
A majority of Americans want the United States to intensify its assault on ISIS following the Paris attacks, but most remain opposed to sending troops to Iraq or Syria, where the militant group is based, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
That view runs counter to comments by some 2016 Republican presidential candidates like former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who called on Monday for more US “troops on the ground” in the region. After years of prolonged conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans appear reluctant to become embroiled in another war even as they push for more action.
The poll — conducted over the weekend after the suicide bomb and shootings in Paris — also found that 63 per cent of Americans were fearful that a Paris-style attack could happen near them, suggesting that national security could emerge as a theme in the campaign for the November 2016 presidential election.
Americans are more fearful now than they were in the immediate aftermath of the bombing of the Boston Marathon in 2013, even though the latter took place on US soil, the poll showed.
The poll of 1,483 people found rising concern about terrorism. Of those polled, 17 per cent listed terrorism as their top concern — a rise from nine per cent when asked in October. Terrorism tied with the economy as the top issue.
The results suggest an opening for Republican presidential candidates, who have been looking for ways to attack Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state under President Barack Obama. Ms Clinton has argued that her foreign policy experience makes her the best qualified to be the next Commander-in-Chief, but Republican critics have sought to link her to Mr Obama’s West Asia policies, which they say have allowed the ISIS to metastasise.
