WND/CLOUT POLLING

9 IN 10 WANT FEDS TO SPY ON ISLAMIC 'HATE' PREACHERS

In Paris, 'terrorists able to move freely without fear authorities would intervene'

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.

Nine of 10 respondents in a new poll want the federal government to spy on Muslim “hate” preachers because they fear the Western world will have to deal with “Islamic terrorism” for the rest of their lives.

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 Clout Research partner, said, “Most Americans believe we need to attack the Islamic terrorism problem directly, including 90 percent who strongly or somewhat agreed that we should infiltrate and investigate mosques led by imams who are known to preach hate against America and helped to radicalize followers.”

He noted that six in 10 respondents said they “strongly” agree with this technique of countering terrorism.

“This is such a strong response perhaps because of what was learned from the Paris attacks, that terrorists there were able to move and plot freely without fear that authorities would intervene,” Wenzel said.

Only one in four respondents said they strongly agreed that the government is doing a satisfactory job of fighting terrorism abroad with military, intelligence and technological tools.

Trust the government? Maybe you shouldn’t. Read the details in “Lies the Government Told You,” by Judge Andrew Napolitano.

Respondents overwhelming said the nation needs to attack Islamic extremists, stop Muslim immigration and end political correctness to battle terror.

“The finding that 57 percent of all respondents nationwide believe the U.S. government is failing to do a satisfactory job countering ISIS underscores tremendous insecurity across the country, and helps to explain why outsiders are doing so well in the early race for the White House,” Wenzel noted.

“With the backdrop of the failure of major institutions in America – from the public school systems, the housing markets, the implosions of social structures and public safety of our large cities, the intelligence and political failures of Washington, and the Catholic Church – and this current failure to deal with ISIS simply underscores the impotence of much that we used to trust. The list of failures is now so long it is hard to imagine any short-term fix.”

He said the worry for Americans, clearly, is that they’ll fight Islamic terror long into the future.

“No other point in this survey is more striking in expressing the depressed nature of the American psyche than this: that 71 percent of Americans believe that Islamic terrorism is now something that the Western world will have to deal with for the rest of their lives,” he said.

“This is truly a glass-half-empty perspective that, with the backdrop of major failures of major institutions in America, may demonstrate that President Obama has succeeded in bringing change to the nation. In terms of dealing with terrorism, he has failed beyond the wildest dreams. Words cannot describe how horrible Americans believe this president has performed on this issue, which will have more impact on all American lives for decades to come. If it is true that a president’s top priority is to keep America safe, Obama is an abysmal failure, our polling data shows.”

Trust the government? Maybe you shouldn’t. Read the details in “Lies the Government Told You,” by Judge Andrew Napolitano.

He noted that Americans want a government that will “attack Islamic extremists where they live.”

“When it comes to taking pro-active measures to fight terrorism, Americans are split on which of a menu of ideas would be most effective, but a theme clearly emerges – attack Islamic extremists where they live, seal the southern U.S. border, stop Muslim immigration, and end the political correctness that keeps people from clearly identifying the problem. They don’t think the nation needs to be more tolerant of Islam – just 9 percent said that would be most effective – and they don’t think more education about Islam would be helpful – just 8 percent said that would be best.”

On the question of the “best prescription” for battling terror, the sentiment was surprisingly similar on both sides of the political spectrum. Nearly 27 percent of those identifying themselves as very liberal and 31 percent who are very conservative were in favoring of targeting Islamic hate preachers.

About 23 percent of Protestants, 27 percent of Catholics and 25 percent of Muslims were in favor.

There was some disparity among political persuasions, as 54 percent of those calling themselves very liberal said the government should spy on Islamic hate preachers, while more than 73 percent of the very conservative agreed.

On the question of whether the Obama administration is doing a good job fighting terrorism, there was further divergence. Sixty-six percent of the very liberal said yes. But 67 percent of the very conservative said no.

They converged mostly on the question of the future of the fight with terror. Nearly 60 percent of the very liberal said threat is permanent, and 88 percent of the very conservative agreed.

See the results:

Question 4: “Do you agree or disagree that the government is doing a satisfactory job of fighting against terrorism abroad using military, intelligence and technological tools to block the Islamic State?”

Question 5: “Do you think that Islamic terrorism is now something that the Western world will have to deal with for the rest of your life, or do you think it is a temporary situation that will be overcome in a matter of several years?”

Question 11: “What of the following ideas would you say is the best prescription for combating terrorism?”

Question 12: “In order to help gather intelligence on possible Islamic extremists operating here in America, do you agree or disagree the government should infiltrate and investigate mosques with leaders who are known to preach hate against America and help to ‘radicalize’ followers?”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/12/9-in-10-want-feds-to-spy-on-islamic-hate-preachers/#u0ZA0fJuh1ZbHFMr.99