More see domestic terrorism as bigger threat than foreign terrorism: Survey

More Americans see domestic terrorist attacks as a larger threat than foreign ones, according to a new poll.

In the Reuters/Ipsos poll , 33 percent of respondents said domestic terrorism is the most significant threat to the average American’s safety, while 20 percent said the same of foreign terrorism. Forty-two percent identified random violent acts, like mass shootings, as the largest threat.

The poll also asked respondents whether foreign or domestic extremist ideologies pose a greater risk, with 61 percent choosing homegrown extremism and 34 percent pointing abroad.

The survey’s results arrive only a few weeks before the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which were perpetrated by foreign terrorist organizations. The attacks had a major effect on American security and foreign policy in the following decades and led to several U.S. wars and conflicts in the Middle East.

In recent years, there have been multiple notable incidents of political violence in the U.S. carried out by Americans, including the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol; the multiple attempts on President Trump’s life; and the killings of former Minnesota state House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.

In July, Secretary of State Marco Rubio convened officials from more than 60 countries to raise awareness about what his department warned was a rise in far-left political violence around the world.

The secretary pressed for an “international response” to the issue at the summit, which marked a widening of President Trump’s focus on addressing left-leaning political violence as what his administration considers the most important terrorist threat facing the U.S.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll took place from Aug. 28 to 31, featuring 1,167 people and 3 percentage points as its margin of error.