Majority of Americans support strikes on IS targets
Since June, American support for airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq has grown nearly 30 percent, according to a new poll.
WASHINGTON
The overwhelming majority of the American public approve of airstrikes on Islamic State militants while President Barack Obama's approval rating has hit its lowest level since he was elected in 2008, two newly released polls show.
Ahead of Obama's announcement Wednesday of the roadmap for action against the militants, Washington Post-ABC News and CNN-ORC International released polls covering a large range of issues in American politics including the administration's foreign policy.
Some of the interesting numbers include, "71 percent of all Americans say they support airstrikes in Iraq – up from 54 percent three weeks ago and from 45 percent in June," according to the Washington Post-ABC News poll released Tuesday.
The poll also found that 65 percent of Americans are in favor of launching airstrikes against IS in Syria – a controversial move as it could possibly benefit the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.
"That is more than double the level of support from a year ago for launching airstrikes to punish the Syrian regime for using chemical weapons," the survey said.
The CNN-ORC International poll released Monday also found similar support for airstrikes against the insurgent group.
That survey showed 76 percent of Americans in favor of airstrikes against IS targets while 90 percent of Americans think that the Islamic State is a threat to the U.S.
According to the poll, 62 percent favor U.S. military aid to forces fighting IS and 83 percent favor providing humanitarian aid to those fleeing the terror group.
A majority of Americans, however, 61 percent, oppose placing U.S. soldiers on the ground in Iraq and Syria to fight the militants while 38 percent would agree to the strategy.
- Obama's approval rating at lowest ever level
The two polls yielded similar results about the president’s approval rating. The CNN poll found Obama's approval rating as 43 percent while 55 percent disapprove of his leadership and role as commander in chief.
The Washington Post-ABC news poll found, "Only 43 percent of Americans say he is a strong leader, the lowest reading since he entered the White House. Just over half the country says his presidency has been a failure."
Additionally, the Washington Post-ABC News poll also found that 52 percent of Americans think that the president is "too cautious" against the Islamic State insurgent group, while according to the CNN-ORC poll just 33 percent think that Obama has a clear plan against the militant group.
