The new Fox News poll captures the incredible hawkishness of the American public at the moment.
Among likely voters, 74 percent of people say the president hasn’t been tough enough in fighting Muslim extremists; 53 percent favor ground troops if air strikes alone won’t work (and 58 percent think ground strikes alone won’t work); 57 percent think our actions against the Islamic State haven’t been aggressive enough; and 54 percent think its “crazy” to announce we won’t use ground troops.
And this is the kicker: 60 percent of Democrats say he hasn’t been tough enough in fighting Muslim extremists.
The public’s current hawkishness has a definite vein in the Democratic party. 48 percent of Democrats think air strikes alone against the Islamic State won’t be enough, and 42 percent favor ground troops (52 percent oppose). 44 percent of Democrats think the president doesn’t have a clear strategy for defeating the Islamic State, while 43 percent think he does. (All these numbers are from the partisan break down of registered voters provided at the end of this link.
This poll shows that if President Obama meant to “catch up” with public opinion on the Islamic State, he hasn’t caught up yet. And that if the campaign against the Islamic State falters, people are primed to blame the inadequacies of his strategy.