The terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California have driven fears of terrorism to the top concern among voters, according to a new
NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
The list of concerns as of this month:
- National security and terrorism: 40 percent
- Job creation and economic growth: 23 percent
- The deficit and government spending: 11 percent
- Health care: 9 percent
- Climate change: 7 percent
- Immigration: 5 percent
- Religious and moral values: 3 percent
The numbers represent a change from April, when job creation and economic growth topped the chart at 29 percent, followed by national security and terrorism at 21 percent.
The poll also found that 71 percent believe random mass shootings are now a permanent part of American life.
And the fear of terrorism is driving President Barack Obama's falling poll numbers. His approval rating is now 43 percent, the lowest in more than a year.
After Obama's Oval Office address to the nation on the terror fight was met with skepticism, Obama on Monday announced after a Pentagon meeting that Islamic State
(ISIS) leaders will be targeted.
"For most of 2015, the country's mood, and thus the presidential election, was defined by anger and the unevenness of the economic recovery. Now that has abruptly changed to fear," Democratic pollster Fred Yang of Hart Research Associates, said. His firm conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.
The focus on security and terrorism "is a very different campaign than the one we thought we'd be running," McInturff said.
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