Daily Mail Terrorism Poll

Snap poll of 1,000 Britons in reaction to the terrorist attacks in Paris

The British public is now more likely to support (50%) than oppose (31%) British troops being involved in a ground war against ISIS according to a new ComRes poll for the Daily Mail.

Support rises to 59% if military action were alongside other countries such as the USA and France, and 68% if it were the UN sending troops. Support for air strikes stands at 60% (vs 24% who oppose this).

Following the attacks in Paris, half of the British public support closing Britain’s borders with the EU so no-one from Europe can come into Britain permanently (53%) – one third (34%) oppose this.

 

Four in five Britons (79%) support closing borders between all European countries so that people cannot travel across Europe without passing through border controls, which would involve suspending the Schengen Agreement.

However, two in five Britons (39%) say that being a member of the European Union strengthens Britain’s national security. Nevertheless, a quarter (23%) say it makes no difference and a further quarter (26%) say that it weakens Britain’s national security.

One in three Britons (35%) think that a terrorist attack in Britain is more likely if it takes military action against ISIS. Just 8% think that a terrorist attack is more likely if Britain does not take military action

Around three quarters of Britons (78%) say they are worried about a terrorist attack happening in Britain, including more than a third (35%) who are very worried. The proportion who say they are worried is a 23 percentage point rise since August 2014.

Indeed, two thirds of Britons (67%) think that it is inevitable that a terrorist attack similar to the one in Paris will happen in the UK. Half of Britons (51%) say they are not confident that Britain’s security and defence services can prevent attacks in the UK similar to those in Paris. 44% say they are confident.

In opposition to Jeremy Corbyn’s earlier statement, three quarters of the British public think that the “shoot to kill” policy of British secret services is right (72%) and that the killing of Mohammed Emwazi without UN approval was right (73%).

Francois Hollande is the leader seen to handle the crisis the best, with four in five Britons (79%) saying that the French president responded well to the attacks, compared to 63% that say the same of David Cameron.

Findings in Detail

Q. Do you support or oppose each of the following actions in response to the recent events in Paris?

	Support	Oppose	Don’t know
The United Nations sending troops to launch a ground war against ISIS	68%	15%	17%
The British military launching air strikes on Syria	60%	24%	16%
British troops involved in a ground war against ISIS alongside other countries such as the USA and France	59%	24%	17%
British troops involved in a ground war against ISIS	50%	31%	19%

Base: All respondents (n=1,061)

Q. Do you support or oppose each of the following actions in response to the recent events in Paris?

	Support	Oppose	Don’t know
Closing Britain’s borders with the EU so no-one from Europe can come into Britain permanently	53%	34%	13%
Closing borders between all European countries so that people cannot travel across Europe without passing through border controls	79%	14%	7%
Refusing entry to refugees from Syria wanting to enter the UK	55%	29%	15%

Base: All respondents (n=1,061)

Q. To what extent do you think that being a member of the European Union strengthens or weakens Britain’s national security?

	%
NET: Strengthens	39%
Greatly strengthens	10%
Somewhat strengthens	29%
Makes no difference	23%
Somewhat weakens	16%
Greatly weakens	11%
NET: Weakens	26%
Don’t know	11%

Base: All respondents (n=1,061)

Q. Which of the following statements comes closest to your view?

 

	%	%		Don’t know
Britain can better defend itself against terrorism as part of the European Union (EU)	41%	26%	Britain can better defend itself against terrorism if it was not in the European Union (EU)	33%

Base: All respondents (n=1,061).

Q. Do you think that each of the following are right or wrong?

	Right	Wrong	Don’t know
The “shoot to kill” policy of the British secret services, whereby they seek to kill suicide bombers or terrorists in the UK believed to be about to attack imminently, rather than seeking to arrest them	72%	14%	14%
The killing of ISIS fighter Mohammed Emwazi (also known as “Jihadi John”) without the approval of the UN	73%	12%	15%

Base: All respondents (n=1,061).

Q. At the present time how worried, if at all, are you personally about each of the following?

	Very worried	Quite worried	Not very worried	Not worried at all	Don’t Know	NET: Worried	NET: Not worried
A terrorist attack happening in Britain	35% (+19)	43% (+3)	17% (-14)	4% (-5)	1% (-3)	78% (+23)	21% (-19)
Going out in city and town centres	6%	25%	40%	28%	1%	31%	68%
Another recession happening	8% (-2)	37% (NC)	42% (+6)	9% (NC)	3% (-3)	46% (-3)	51% (+6)
Flying on airplanes	16% (+7)	27% (+9)	29% (-3)	25% (-12)	2% (-3)	43% (+16)	55% (-13)
Attending public events such as football matches or concerts	12%	26%	36%	23%	3%	38%	59%
Interest rates rising	6% (-12)	20% (-6)	41% (+15)	28% (+5)	4% (-2)	27% (-11)	69% (+13)
An outbreak of ebola in the UK	3% (-9)	11% (-16)	44% (+17)	40% (+3)	1% (-6)	14% (-25)	85% (+31)

Base: All respondents (n=1,061). Changes in brackets are from August 2014.

Two thirds of Britons (67%) think that it is inevitable that a terrorist attack similar to the one in Paris will happen in the UK. One in five (21%) believe it is impossible to stop ISIS and just one in five (19%) agree that there are other ways of stopping ISIS without using military action – perhaps demonstrating little support for the Green Party’s suggestion of holding peace talks.

Q. Do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements?

	Agree	Disagree	Don’t know
It is inevitable that a terrorist attack similar to the one in Paris will happen in the UK	67%	14%	19%
ISIS can only be stopped by using military action	69%	14%	16%
It is impossible to stop ISIS	21%	58%	21%
There are other ways of stopping ISIS without using military action	19%	60%	21%

Base: All respondents (n=1,061).

 

Q. How confident, if at all, are you that Britain’s security and defence services can prevent attacks in the UK similar to those in Paris?

	%
NET: Confident	44%
Very confident	4%
Fairly confident	40%
Not very confident	37%
Not confident at all	13%
NET: Not confident	51%
Don’t know	5%

Base: All respondents (n=1,061)

Q. Which of the following comes closest to your opinion?

	%
A terrorist attack in Britain is more likely if Britain takes military action against ISIS	35%
A terrorist attack in Britain is more likely if Britain does not take military action and leaves ISIS to its own devices	8%
It makes no difference if Britain take military action or not	54%
Don’t know	4%

Base: All respondents (n=1,061).

Q. How well or badly has each of the following responded to the terrorist attacks in Paris?

	Very well	Fairly well	Fairly badly	Very badly	Don’t know	NET: Well	NET: Badly
American President, Barack Obama	16%	46%	11%	4%	22%	62%	16%
French President, Francois Hollande	43%	36%	6%	3%	12%	79%	9%
British Prime Minister, David Cameron	17%	46%	15%	7%	15%	63%	22%
Russian President, Vladimir Putin	14%	36%	11%	3%	35%	50%	15%

Base: All respondents (n=1,061).

 

Date Published: 18th November 2015

Categories: GB | Media | Politics | Public and communities

Client: Daily Mail

Methodology

ComRes interviewed 1,061 British adults online on the 17^th November 2015. Data were weighted to be representative of all GB adults aged 18+. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

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