Poll: More Republicans view Obama, Democrats as imminent threat than Russia's Putin

(Image credit: Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty Images)

published 30 March 2015

In a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, 34 percent of Republicans called President Obama an imminent threat to the United States, versus 25 percent who ranked Russian President Vladimir Putin and 23 percent who viewed Syrian President Bashar al-Assed as that dangerous. The online survey, conducted March 16-24, asked the 1,083 Democrats and 1,059 Republicans to assign a number to countries, groups, and individuals, with 1 being no threat and 5 being an imminent threat.

Obama wasn't the only domestic threat: 27 percent of Republicans gave 5 scores to Democrats, and 22 percent of Democrats similarly ranked the GOP as an imminent threat. "There tends to be a lot of demonizing of the person who is in the office," sociologist Barry Glassner tells Reuters. "The TV media here, and American politics, very much trade on fears."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.