National security

UMD Poll: US Voters Agree Crushing ISIS Is No. 1 National Security Priority

The American public is fiercely divided heading into the Nov. 8 election, but on the question of what the nation’s top national security priority should be, opinion is united, according to a new poll: Job one is defeating the Islamic State group.

In fact, the public is so unified that most voters in both parties want Washington and Moscow to put aside their differences and team up against the group. This is according to a national University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll of 1,528 registered voters, conducted by Nielsen-Scarborough and released Nov. 1.

Whether the Islamic State is an existential threat and therefore worth the effort is debatable. Robert McKenzie, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution specializing in US relations with the Islamic World, noted in a recent report that the FBI has labeled or charged only about 1,300 individuals as sympathizers with Islamic terrorist groups. For comparison, law enforcement officials estimate more than 1.4 million Americans are affiliated with criminal gangs.