Survey shows 65% confirm attack somewhat or very likely

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Posted: November 19, 2009
By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Editor's note: This is another in a series of monthly "WND/WENZEL POLLS" - polls conducted exclusively for WND by the public opinion research and media consulting company Wenzel Strategies.

Two-thirds of Americans expect an Islamic suicide bomb attack on American soil within six months, according to a new poll that also shows Republicans are significantly more concerned than Democrats.

Fritz Wenzel of Wenzel Strategies said one of the most shocking findings of his recent polling on the subject was that 65 percent are expecting an attack within six months.

"Some of the communication between Fort Hood shooter Hasan and al-Qaida figures included discussion of such attacks inside the United States, and it has been a common form of violence in the Middle East for years," he said. "Now, Americans appear resigned to the fact that these attacks will soon come to our shores."

He asked a series of questions in a WorldNetDaily/Wenzel Strategies survey regarding the recent Fort Hood attack, allegedly carried out by Muslim Maj. Nidal Hasan. The survey, Nov. 13-16, used an automated telephone technology calling a random sampling of listed telephone numbers nationwide. The survey has 95 percent confidence interval. It included 806 adult respondents and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

"More than one-third of respondents – 36 percent – said they think it is 'very likely' that such an attack will take place in the next six months, while another 29 percent said it is 'somewhat likely,'" he reported.

Wenzel said there is "a huge partisan split on this, as 84 percent of Republicans said they think it is likely … while just 47 percent of Democrats felt the same way."

The survey also revealed a plurality of Americans believe the Fort Hood attack was an act of Islamic terrorism.

The survey asked: "Do you think that the killings at Fort Hood were an act of terrorism by a calculated Islamic terrorist or an act of a mentally deranged man?"

Forty-nine percent identified the deaths of 13 adults and one unborn child and the dozens more injured as Islamic terrorism, including 65 percent of Republicans and 31 percent of Democrats. More than half of the independents agreed with the GOP.

About one-third of the respondents said the attack was the act of a deranged man.

The survey also asked what Americans believe should be done with the estimated 15,000 Muslims in the U.S. military following the attack. Forty-eight percent said the military needs to do much better – and more – screening of Muslims. The military also should follow up on potential threats, they agreed.

"This is a reasonable response, given that the shooter had reportedly reached out to al-Qaida figures in a string of e-mail communications and had contact with radical imams before the shootings, and that military leaders were apparently aware of his communications but did nothing," Wenzel's analysis concluded.

"That just 14 percent said Muslims should be expelled from the U.S. military shows some tolerance and a trust that Army leaders probably know the right action to take in such situations, but that they somehow failed to take proper action," he wrote.

Another 11 percent said Muslims serving in the U.S. military should be allowed to claim status as conscientious objectors to avoid deployment to war zones when the U.S. is fighting against Islamic enemies.

"Democrats were twice as likely as Republicans to say that the military should respond to the shootings by instituting widespread Muslim sensitivity training, but even at that, just 11 percent of Democrats thought that was the best response," Wenzel said.

However, only 9 percent of Americans believe the terror attack will result in the end of political correctness in the military, despite "strong evidence" it contributed significantly. Other respondents were divided over the question.

"This probably reflects a doubt that the wave of political correctness that has washed over U.S. institutions can be reversed by one incident, heinous as it was. Even after the attacks of September 11, 2001, there was a pocket of resistance to some reforms, including the Patriot Act, designed to better protect Americans, but the Hasan shootings were an utterly predictable disaster waiting to happen, and the fact that so few think action can be taken to prevent repeated attacks in the future is disappointing and shows a recognition that our societal structures are growing ever weaker," Wenzel noted.

Fifty-five percent of the respondents blamed Hasan for the massacre; with 10 percent blaming President Obama, 13 percent Army leaders, 13 percent Islam and another 9 percent unsure.

If you are a member of the media and would like to interview Fritz Wenzel about this story, please e-mail.

See detailed results of survey questions:

Thinking about Islam in America and the recent shootings at Fort Hood in Texas, which of the following do you most think the military should do about the estimated 15,000 Muslims in its ranks?

Army leaders reportedly were aware of the alleged Fort Hood shooter’s connection to al-Qaida operatives before the Fort Hood shootings, but ignored that connection as well as other strong evidence of jihad tendencies, because they didn’t want to offend a Muslim officer. As a result of this political correctness on the part of Army leaders that ended in the Fort Hood massacre, which of the following outcomes do you think is most likely?

Who do you blame most for the recent massacre at Fort Hood?

Do you think that the killings at Fort Hood were an act of terrorism by a calculated Islamic terrorist or an act of a mentally deranged man?

How likely do you think it is that an Islamic suicide bomber will attack at some public place in the United States sometime in the next six months?

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