This Gallup poll is moot, in that for at least the next year and change, when it comes to preventing terrorism, the ball is in the hands of President Obama and his cabinet, under policies set by a Democratic Congress.
Americans continue to give the Republican Party a slight edge over the Democratic Party — 49% vs. 42% — in their perceptions of the party that will better protect the United States from international terrorism and military threats. The Republicans’ edge on this issue is unchanged from last year but has diminished from earlier in the decade.
No matter how much we may think their policies to prevent and deter terrorism may be muddled or wrongheaded, we have to hope they’ll work.
But if those policies do not work . . . well, the American people know which party has an alternative.