NEW YORK, September 10 (RIA Novosti) -Ahead of US President Barack Obama’s primetime address on tackling Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq and Syria, an opinion poll has revealed that the American public is increasingly worried about Islamic extremism.
“Six-in-ten (62 per cent) are very concerned about the rise of Islamic extremism around the world, the largest share dating back to 2007,” the Pew Research Center said in a statement on Wednesday. “A somewhat smaller majority (53 per cent) is very concerned about such a rise in the US.”
IS, which is also known as ISIS and ISIL, is estimated to have as many as 50,000 fighters and govern a self-declared caliphate of as many as eight million people. US President Barack Obama is poised to lay out his anti-IS strategy in a primetime address to the nation on Wednesday.
“Roughly four-in-ten (42 per cent) say the government is doing ‘not too well’ or ‘not at all well’ in reducing the terror threat, up 16 points from November,” the survey adds. “While the new survey does not ask about ISIS specifically, last month 67 per cent identified the militant group in Iraq and Syria as a ‘major threat’ to the US.”
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Wednesday, after the formation of a new Iraqi government that is headed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, a moderate Shia, and includes Sunnis and Kurds, who complain about marginalisation from Baghdad.
