A majority of Americans, or 55 percent, think the U.S. military is overstretched these days but believe deploying troops to stop illegal immigration is a better use of forces than sending them to fight the spread of Ebola in Africa, a new poll has found.
In a Rasmussen Reports survey conducted Sept. 17-18 of 1,000 likely voters, 42 percent say fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) is a better use of the military than patrolling the southern border or helping to fight the Ebola epidemic in Africa.
Thirty-one percent, however, believes patrolling the border is a better use of the military, compared to just 17 percent who say the military should be fighting Ebola.
And 57 percent of voters are in favor of using the military to prevent illegal immigration.
The findings come after President Barack Obama announced he is sending
3,000 troops to Africa to help the international fight against the spread of Ebola. American military personnel will help distribute sanitation kits to affected areas, deliver body bags to buy victims, and assist in the building of treatment facilities.
The 3,000 US troops in Africa will be more than the president sent to fight ISIS in Iraq or Syria. And Obama has not deployed any US forces to the border, despite the flood off illegals that overwhelmed immigration agencies, and reports of the southern border being vulnerable to infiltration by terrorists.
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Texas Gov. Rick Perry, meanwhile, deployed 1,000 National Guard troops to secure his state's border.
"I will not stand idly by while our citizens are under assault and little children from Central America are detained in squalor,"
the governor said in July.
The survey also found that 57 percent of voters view ISIS as a bigger national security threat to the United States than illegal immigration. By comparison, 30 percent believe illegal immigration is a bigger security problem.
Meanwhile, 83 percent of voters believe the United States will be forced to deploy combat troops to Iraq to fight ISIS, including 47 percent who say it is very likely.
And 48 percent of respondents say they would support a decision to send combat troops to the region as part of an international coalition in the fight against the militant group.
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