Republicans might think Obama appears weak in the eyes of foreign foes to the United States, but they certainly see him as threatening … to their own country.
In fact, more Republicans view Obama as an imminent threat to U.S. soil than think so of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A recently released Reuters/Ipsos poll asked respondents to rate individuals, countries and organizations on how much of a threat they pose to the U.S. on a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being “no threat” and 5 being “imminent threat.”
A whopping 37 percent of Republicans characterize President Obama as an imminent threat, while only 25 percent of Republicans say the same of Putin and 23 percent believe so of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
In contrast, only 6 percent of Democrats rate President Obama as an imminent threat to the U.S. Overall, 20 percent of respondents — still a rather strong fraction — describe the president as such. Thirty-five percent do not see Obama as a threat at all.
It’s no secret that Republicans don’t hold a strong opinion of Obama, but this may be a low for the sitting president. Putin enjoys a horribly low approval rating among Americans likely because of his aggressive actions in Ukraine. Assad is widely believed to have used chemical weapons on his own people.
The poll, which was conducted online between March 16 and 24, found that Americans from both political parties are most concerned about the Islamic State and al-Qaeda as imminent threats to the country.
