Support for using U.S. ground troops against the Islamic State continues to grow.
In October, just 39 percent favored the idea of sending ground groups to the Middle East to fight against Islamic militants, but 47 percent now favor the idea, according to a new national survey by the Pew Research Center. Opposition to sending ground troops to the region has also dropped from 55 percent to 49 percent.
Overall support for the American military fight against the Islamic State continues to grow as well. In October, 57 percent approved, compared to 33 who disapproved. Now, 63 percent approve compared to 30 percent who disapprove.
The Pew findings follow a recent CBS News poll that indicated 57 percent of Americans now want to go to war with the Sunni terror state that controls a large territory in Iraq and Syria, along with a “province” in Libya and portions of other countries.
Views on how to defeat global terrorism have also shifted. In early 2014, 57 percent surveyed said “relying too much on military force to defeat terrorism creates hatred that leads to more terrorism,” leaving only 37 percent saying “using overwhelming military force is the best way to defeat terrorism around the world.”
Now, Americans are divided on the issue — 46 percent now say over-reliance on military force is bad and 37 percent say using military force is the best approach for defeating global terrorism.
Americans remain split on the country’s involvement in fighting the Islamic State. Forty-nine percent say U.S. military action will not go far enough in stopping the militants, while 46 percent say the U.S. will go too far in getting involved in the situation.
One thing Americans don’t seem divided on? The effectiveness of the current U.S. campaign against the Islamic State. A combined 58 percent expressed skepticism over the campaign — 38 percent said “not too well” and 20 percent said “not at all well.” Under the current strategy of air strikes and support for local forces, the Islamic State appears to have continued its territorial expansion and now threatens major Iraqi cities.
However, though just 7 percent think the campaign is going very well and only 30 percent say it is going fairly well, most Americans (60 percent) remain confident that the U.S. effort will definitely or probably succeed.
Interestingly enough, adults aged 18-29 are the only age group to strongly oppose sending troops to the Middle East to fight Islamic militants: 59 percent oppose compared to 39 percent in favor. Older age groups have become more supportive since October, though a fairly even divide remains.
The telephone survey of 1,504 adults was done Feb. 18-22 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
