Gallup Poll: Americans Say Trump Was Better on Terrorism Than Obama

Americans think former President Donald Trump made more progress fighting terrorism than former President Barack Obama did, a Gallup poll released Monday found.

Results from the poll show that 44% of those surveyed said the U.S. made progress in combatting terrorism under Trump, while 35% said the country has lost ground and 20% said it has stood still.

There was a strong partisan divide, with the percentage of Republicans saying Trump made progress on the issue minus the percentage saying he lost ground being +67. Among Democrats, this figure was -37.

The recent Gallup poll surveyed 906 adults across the U.S. from Jan. 21-Feb. 2, 2021 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.

Meanwhile, only 28% of Americans said Obama made progress fighting terrorism, while 49% said the U.S. lost ground and 20% said it stood still during his term. Forty percent of Americans also said former President George W. Bush made progress on terrorism, 37% believed he lost ground, and 20% said the U.S. stood still on the issue during his presidency.

The data on opinions of Obama's and Bush's performances on terror were collected in the final days of their respective terms — Jan. 2-3, 2017 for Obama and Jan. 2-4, 2009 for Bush.