Poll: 84% Of Americans Think Muslim Terrorists May Launch Attack On U.S. Soil Soon

A vast majority of American voters think that Islamic terrorists will launch an attack on U.S. soil in the near future while nearly half say President Barack Obama is underemphasizing the threat from the terrorists, a Fox News poll reported.

According to the survey, 84 percent think it is "somewhat likely" that Islamic terrorists will try to launch an attack on U.S. soil soon. The number includes 50 percent who say "very" likely.

The survey used 1,009 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide as respondents. They were interviewed via landline and cell phone from Jan. 25-27,

Voters aged 45 and over (59 percent) think that an attack is "very" likely to happen than younger voters (39 percent).

Also, 56 percent think the United States is at war with radical Islam, compared to 37 percent who think otherwise.

For Democrats, 49 percent of them say the country is at war with radical Islam, while 47 percent say it is not. Majority of Republicans, on the other hand, say the country is at war (68-29 percent).

On the President's treatment of the terror threat, nearly half (47 percent) say he "underemphasizes" such threat. Another 43 percent say his approach is "about right" while only 6 percent say he "overemphasizes" it.

Terrorism placed second after the economy as the most important issue for Congress and the President to work on right now, according to the survey. While the economy is ranked by 32 percent as the top issue, terrorism comes in at 14 percent. It is followed by health care at 11 percent and federal deficit and immigration at 10 percent each.

Only 15 percent of voters think the country is safer since Obama became head of the state, far from the 34 percent who feel the country is less safe. Half think the security situation has not changed under Obama.

Those who say the country is at war with radical Islam are 15 points more likely to say the country is less safe than those who say the U.S. is not at war with radical Islam, according to the survey.

A little over half of the voters say the greatest threat to future generations is global terrorism, compared to Obama's assertion in his State of the Union speech that climate change poses the greatest threat. Meanwhile, 16 percent say Iran having a nuclear weapon poses the greatest threat.

Even as 2,700 terrorists or militants have been killed by the 400 drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan during Obama's term, 60 percent of voters think it is better to capture, interrogate and try terrorist suspects in a military court. Only 24 percent agree with the administration's usage of drones.

More than half of voters (54 percent) say the administration's policies toward hot spots in the Middle East have mostly failed.

More than six in 10 voters say Obama should have joined the Paris march, including 52 percent of Democrats.

Fourteen percent of respondents say Obama does not use terms like radical Islam or Islamic terrorism because he doesn't think the terrorist threat is directly connected to Islam. However, 70 percent think there is another reason. The poll did not ask what the other reasons might be.

As Obama continues to move forward with plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, 58 percent disagree with his plans while only 32 percent approve of his decision. Most Republicans (81 percent) and over half of independents (55 percent) say it is wrong to close Gitmo. Almost half of Democrats (49 percent) say it is the right thing to do, while 38 percent disagree.

The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points and was held under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) 2015.