White House spokesman Josh Earnest insisted Friday that the government is doing a better job now protecting Americans than when President Obama took office in 2009, even though a new poll says people’s trust in the government to keep them safe is at a new low.
Earnest was responding to questions about a Thursday Gallup poll that said only 55 percent of those asked were confident that the government is protecting them. That poll came out after a terrorist attack in California that left 14 dead, and heightened fears that more attacks could be coming on U.S. soil.
But Earnest dismissed that poll result, and said there are a “variety” of reasons why people should feel safer.
“The first is that the United States has succeeded in building the kind of international coalition to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL that ensures that the United States is not in this fight alone, and that we’re getting strong support from the international community for our ongoing efforts,” Earnest said, using the administration’s preferred acronym for the so-called Islamic State.
“Under President Obama, there has been a historic commitment in tightening our border security, both in terms of personnel and technology that has been deployed to secure our borders,” Earnest continued.
“[W]hen you’ve combined the numbers of American service members serving in Iraq and Afghanistan … there aren’t more than 150,000 troops on the ground in Iraq and in Afghanistan, I think is an indication that our priorities are oriented in a direction that better reflects our national security interests,” Earnest maintained.
Earnest said there are reasons to doubt Gallup poll results, and pointed to Gallup’s predictions during the 2012 campaign that Republican Mitt Romney would best President Obama.
“Let me just start by noting that the Gallup organization is the one that consistently predicted that Mitt Romney would be president of the United States,” Earnest said. “So, I’m not sure how they feel about President Romney’s performance in protecting the homeland. Maybe that will be a poll question the next time around.”
Earnest took another shot at Gallup in explaining that Obama understands that Americans are anxious after the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., which is why he addressed the nation during primetime on Sunday.
“I think the sentiment that is reflected in that poll, regardless of how accurate it may be, I think is part of what prompted the president to address the public on Sunday night,” he said.
