The majority of people believe President-elect Donald Trump will protect the United States from terrorists, according to a new poll.
Gallup released a survey Thursday that showed the results to the question: “Regardless of which presidential candidate you preferred, do you think the second Trump administration will or will not be able to … keep the U.S. safe from terrorism?”
Of those polled, 60% of respondents expressed confidence that the incoming president would keep the country safe from terrorism threats.
The poll also showed high levels of optimism regarding Trump’s ability to control illegal immigration, reduce unemployment, improve the economy, and keep the nation out of war.
The poll was conducted from Dec. 2 through Dec. 18, 2024. The survey results come as the country was the target of two possible terrorist attacks on New Year’s Day.
One confirmed terrorist attack occurred Wednesday in New Orleans when suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who was inspired by the Islamic State group, killed 15 people and injured at least 30.
Another incident occurred the same day at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. Authorities are investigating the incident, which wounded seven people, as a possible terrorist attack.
The attacks occurred after top current and former U.S. officials had repeatedly warned that terrorism threats are on the rise.
Former acting CIA Director Michael Morell said over the summer that terrorism warning lights are “blinking red.”
“The combination of stated intentions of terrorist groups, growing capabilities they have demonstrated in recent successful and failed attacks around the world, and the fact that several serious plots in the United States have been foiled, point us to an uncomfortable but unavoidable conclusion,” Morell wrote in an op-ed co-authored with Graham Allison, the former assistant secretary of defense for policy and plans. “Put simply, the United States faces a serious threat of a terrorist attack in the months ahead.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray said much of the same during a congressional hearing in December 2024, warning that he sees “blinking lights everywhere I turn.”
“Given the steady drumbeat of calls for attacks by foreign terrorist organizations since Oct. 7, we’re working around the clock to identify and disrupt potential attacks by those inspired by Hamas’s horrific terrorist attacks in Israel,” Wray said during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Government data indicate there has been a sweeping increase in terrorism suspects attempting to come into the country. During fiscal 2020, Border Patrol agents apprehended three people coming illegally over U.S. borders who were on the terrorism watchlist, a number that had grown to a total of 516 terrorism suspects captured in fiscal 2024, per a CBS analysis.
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In a 20-page report released in August 2024, the House GOP accused the Biden administration of releasing at least 90 of the terrorism suspects Border Patrol encountered at the southwest border into the country.
Meanwhile, Gallup polling conducted last year identified growing unease from the electorate about the possibility of future terrorist attacks in the U.S., with an increase of concern coming particularly from people who identified as Democrats.