WASHINGTON, October 15 (RIA Novosti) - More Americans think that the US fight against the Islamic State (IS) should be expanded to include combat troops, according to a NBC News and Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday.
Forty-one percent of those surveyed said that both ground troops and airstrikes were needed to fight against IS; 35 percent thought that airstrikes alone would suffice; while 15 percent believed that no military action was necessary at all.
A similar September NBC/WSJ poll showed that 40 percent were only for airstrikes, while 34 percent were for airstrikes and ground troops.
Additionally, 55 percent of the October respondents said that they did not support President Barack Obama's handle against IS but 37 percent were in approval of Obama's grip on IS.
A majority of 61 percent said that taking military action against IS in Iraq and Syria was in the United States' national interest, but 16 percent did not think so.
The poll had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points and surveyed 1000 registered voters ages 18 to 75 years and older.
The IS, is a Sunni extremist group, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012.
In June 2014, the movement expanded its attacks to northern and western Iraq and declared an Islamic caliphate on the territories that had fallen under its control. A US-led coalition is currently carrying out airstrikes against IS positions in Syria and Iraq.
