80% Say Terrorists Are Bigger Threat to U.S. Than Traditional Wars
While U.S. troops are fighting daily in Afghanistan, the nation's longest-running war, voters overwhelmingly think terrorism is a bigger threat to the country than traditional wars.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 12% of Likely U.S. Voters think traditional wars are a bigger threat to the United States than terrorists. Eighty percent (80%) disagree and see terrorists as the bigger threat. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
However, voters have mixed feelings about refocusing the military toward fighting terrorism. Thirty percent (30%) feel America could improve its national security by reducing the number of soldiers in uniform and focusing more strategically on fighting terrorism, but 41% oppose such a strategic shift. Twenty-nine percent (29%) are not sure which is the best course.
Voters who have served in the military are more likely than those who have not been in uniform to see traditional wars as the bigger threat. The majority (57%) of those who have served oppose refocusing the military toward combating terrorism.
Either way, 82% of all voters believe economic challenges are a bigger threat to the U.S. military than challenges on the military front.
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on January 27, 2011 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.
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