Following the first major attack by radical Islamic terrorists on American soil in several years, President Obama sought to reassure Americans in a speech to the nation Sunday night that the federal government has things under control. He outlined the measures being taken to fight the radical Islamic State group (ISIS), called for more gun control and cautioned against anti-Muslim bias.
Most believe the gun policies of the National Rifle Association make this country safer, perhaps in part because Americans tend to think more gun control will only hurt law-abiding citizens.
Some have suggested the presence of more Americans with concealed carry gun permits will reduce the number of people killed in violent incidents in this country. Americans tend to think that’s true but aren’t strongly sold on the idea.
Some politicians have charged that last week’s shootings at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado were politically motivated. Were the killings a domestic terrorist act? Americans say no.
Domestic Islamic terrorism or another random mass shooting? Authorities still aren’t sure or at least aren’t saying as the investigation in San Bernardino, California continues.
With increasing reports that terrorists regularly use the Internet to coordinate their actions, Americans think preventing potential criminal activity online is more important than maintaining complete Internet freedom, but they are sharply divided as to who should be doing the policing.
Most voters now think global warming requires urgent attention but still believe President Obama and Congress need to decide together on the course of action.
Unlike President Obama, U.S. voters think the United States is at war with radical Islamic terrorism and remain wary of the Islamic religion as a whole.
It’s a draw. Voters are evenly divided when asked which presidential front-runner would best keep this country safe from terrorism.
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump says he would support government tracking of Muslims living in the United States through a federal database, a plan his fellow GOP rivals say is going too far. Still, one-in-three voters - and a slight plurality of Republicans - support government monitoring of Muslims.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 32% of Likely U.S. Voters believe most individual Muslims should be monitored by the government as potential terrorists. Most (52%) are opposed to such a plan, but 16% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on November 17-18, 2015 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Regardless of who wins the presidential election in 2016, Americans who are currently serving or have previously served in the armed forces hope he or she raises military spending.
As the international effort to eliminate the radical Islamic State group (ISIS) intensifies, voters here are less skeptical of Russia’s involvement.
Despite the recent horrific terrorist attacks in Paris, voters here aren’t ready to take the lead in the fight against the radical Islamic State group (ISIS), but they’re close to a formal declaration of war.
Americans aren’t happy with President Obama’s response to the recent massacres in Paris by radical Islamic terrorists but feel even more strongly that prominent Muslims need to speak out against these atrocities.
President Obama, Hillary Clinton and other senior Democrats refuse to say America is at war with “radical Islamic terrorism” for fear of insulting all Muslims, but voters beg to disagree.
More than three-quarters of Americans who are now in the military or have previously served have little doubt that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a major problem for veterans.
President Obama says the Syrian refugees he hopes to move here are no more dangerous than tourists. The governors of more than two dozen states, citing the links between those refugees and the weekend massacres in Paris, aren’t convinced and have asked the president not to settle them in their states.
Black Lives Matter or all lives matter is an ongoing political debate, but most voters aren't convinced that the Black Lives Matter movement is interested in justice for all.
In a heated exchange during last week's Republican presidential primary debate, Senator Rand Paul criticized fellow Senator Marco Rubio for his calls to substantially increase defense spending when the United States already spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined. Turns out just half of U.S. voters are aware of how much this country spends compared to the rest of the world, and a plurality wants the figure to increase.
Front-runner Hillary Clinton didn’t move an inch among Democratic voters following Saturday night’s debate even though there were two fewer candidates on stage. She also clearly has a problem with younger voters.
