Editor’s Note: This is another in a series of reports on the polling by Clout Research, a national opinion research firm in Columbus, Ohio, for WND.com.
Americans are strongly backing GOP presidential primary front-runner Donald Trump’s suggestion that all Muslim immigration be halted until the nation can figure out how to handle the threat of imported terrorists.
Nearly 70 percent of those responding to a poll question about halting refugees from Syria agreed with Trump, and almost the same percentage said America should ban all Muslim immigration at least temporarily.
The results are from a new WND/Clout poll by Clout Research, a national opinion research firm in Columbus, Ohio. The telephone survey of registered voters was taken Dec. 18-27, except for the holiday, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.35 percentage points.
Fritz Wenzel, a partner at Clout Research, said the results are not a surprise.
“The American public is far ahead of the political leaders on this question, and it appears that Republican Donald Trump is taking full advantage of this difference by calling for a temporary ban on all Muslim immigration.
“Fully 69 percent said they agree – including 57 percent who said they ‘strongly agree’ – that all Muslim immigration should be temporarily halted. It is just hard to imagine any event [or] series of events, in which American opinion on this question will turn around before November because the bias and momentum of events are so strongly in favor of bad news and more terrorism in America,” he said.
On the question of Syrian refugees, 54.6 percent strongly favor a ban, and another 14.4 percent somewhat favor a ban, totaling 69 percent.
Continued Wenzel: “This polling data underscores the dramatic effect that the terrorist attack at San Bernardino has had on the American psyche. We are very angry and disillusioned that our own government is failing us in fighting terrorism. It has failed to secure the southern border, and it has failed to properly investigate incoming travelers from terrorist countries, and the result has been a high-profile terrorist attack here at home. No amount of explanation will dissipate the fear that many in this country feel.”
Early in December, Trump called for temporarily barring all Muslims from entering the U.S.
“Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on,” his campaign announced.
The call followed the attack in San Bernardino by two Muslims, including a recent immigrant from the Middle East, that killed 14 people and seriously injured 22 others.
His idea was immediately adopted by many Americans.
“I think that we should definitely disallow any Muslims from coming in. Any of them. The reason is simple: We can’t identify what their attitude is,” Charlie Marzka of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, told CNN at the time.
Trump had cited the hatred Muslim activists have for America.
“Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe online in jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life,” he said.
There was a political divergence in the poll results. Among Democrats, only 50 percent said they favored halting all Muslim immigration.
Among independents, about 78 percent were for halting Syrian refugees and nearly the same for halting all Muslim immigrants.
For Republicans, 84 percent favored halting refugees from Syria, and 88 percent favor halting all Muslim immigration.
Only 45 percent of the “very liberal” agreed with halting all Muslim immigration and 50 percent agreed to stopping Syrians.
Most of the other categories had majorities as high as about 95 percent in agreement.
Among religious persuasions, Jews and atheists a little less than half were in favor. The other religious categories endorsed a ban overwhelmingly.
“America enters 2016 at a tipping point, where citizens no longer trust their government to do anything correctly,” Wenzel said. “A decades-long confidence in many institutions is severely eroding or completely destroyed, and the very future of the nation is clearly at stake. We have gone through several presidential election cycles now where candidates have claimed that election was the most important in American history. There is widespread sentiment in America that the country we knew 20 years ago has nearly been destroyed, but it may still be salvageable. It may well be true that many more Americans will be engaged this year because they finally believe that they have a personal stake in what Washington does – or fails to do.”
See the results:
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2015/12/30/most-americans-back-trumps-call-to-halt-muslim-influx/
from WordPress https://toddmsiebert.wordpress.com/2015/12/29/most-americans-back-trumps-call-to-halt-muslim-influx/
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