Poll: Nearly Half of Americans Fear New Terrorist Attack

The beheadings of two American journalists has resulted in growing fears that the United States is in more danger from terrorism than at any time since the 9/11 attacks, a new survey shows.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll reveals that nearly one of every two Americans, or 47 percent, believe that the country is less secure than before hijacked planes slammed into the twin towers in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.

The number is more than double the figure of 20 percent of Americans who felt the country was less safe in a NBC/WSJ poll taken the year after 9/11 attacks. And it’s also a major increase over last year’s poll, when 28 percent of Americans believed that the nation was less secure than before 9/11.

The new poll shows that, in fact, only 1 in 4 Americans, just 26 percent, think the nation is safer than before 9/11.

The poll was released ahead of President Barack Obama’s planned address to the nation on prime-time TV Wednesday, revealing his strategy on dealing with the increasing threat from the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group.

The danger from ISIS was highlighted by the beheadings of U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff by the jihadists, who posted a video of the decapitations.

"A very war-weary country seems to have woken up to the real threat that ISIS may present," says Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey with Democratic pollster Peter Hart of Hart Research.

"The beheadings are so chilling to the American public," said Hart. "The only things I think of equal impact are the self-immolations back in Vietnam."

According to the survey, 94 percent of Americans said they had heard about Foley’s death, which was higher than any other news event that NBC/WSJ polls have measured over the past five years.

The figure surpassed the 79 percent who had heard about Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons in 2013, the 77 percent who knew of the 2011 debt-ceiling battle, and the 68 percent who were aware of Oklahoma’s botched execution this year, according to NBC News.

The new poll also found that 6 of every 10 Americans, or 61 percent, believe that the United States must take military action against ISIS, compared to 13 percent who want the country to stay out of the conflict in Iraq and Syria, where the terror organization is attempting to create a caliphate.

The figure is a significant increase over the 21 percent who said it was in the nation’s best interest to take action against the Syrian government after it had reportedly used chemical weapons.

The survey also found that 2 of every 5 Americans, or 40 percent, felt that the United States should only target ISIS with airstrikes, while nearly as many people, 34 percent, want the Obama administration to employ both air power and combat troops on the ground.

However, 15 percent of respondents said that no force whatsoever should be taken in the Middle East against ISIS jihadists.

The NBC/WSJ poll of 1,000 registered voters was conducted Sept. 3-7 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

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