--- description: Nearly 70% are unconvinced the U.S. will achieve its goals in fighting the terrorist group title: Obama Plan to Destroy ISIS Fails to Gain America's Confidence: Poll image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5665e22a69f3638/6986a33ccd684856750966f3/obama-isis.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Foreign Policy](/tag/foreign-policy/) ## Foreign Policy Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Majority of Americans Lack Confidence in Obama's ISIS Strategy, Poll Finds by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 14, 2014 4:08 PM CUT  President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, pauses while making a statement about immigration reform, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on June 13, 2014. President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, pauses while making a statement about immigration reform, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on June 13, 2014.Jacquelyn Martin—AP by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 14, 2014 4:08 PM CUT Nearly 70% of Americans say they lack confidence that the U.S. will achieve its goals in fighting the terrorist group ISIS, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Annenberg poll. The findings come in the wake of President Barack Obama’s national address announcing new measures to combat the Sunni militants. Pressure is mounting on the U.S. and its allies to cripple the militants, who have waged a brutal campaign across Syria and Iraq. ISIS already has beheaded two American journalists and on Saturday released a video showing [the execution of a third Westerner, British aid worker David Haines](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/will-isis-beheading-david-haines-spur-britain-conduct-airstrikes-n202956 "undefined"). [Read more from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/large-majority-americans-lack-confidence-obama-mission-destroy-isis-poll-n202976?cid=par-time-article%5F20140914 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3373351/obama-isis-plan-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3373351/obama-isis-plan-poll/"},"headline":"Majority of Americans Lack Confidence in Obama's ISIS Strategy, Poll Finds","datePublished":"2014-09-14T16:08:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:10:25.210Z","description":"Nearly 70% are unconvinced the U.S. will achieve its goals in fighting the terrorist group","url":"https://time.com/3373351/obama-isis-plan-poll/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","Iraq","ISIS","Sunni"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5665e22a69f3638/6986a33ccd684856750966f3/obama-isis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5665e22a69f3638/6986a33ccd684856750966f3/obama-isis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama, Joe Biden","caption":"Barack Obama, Joe Biden","creditText":"Jacquelyn Martin—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3373351/obama-isis-plan-poll/","name":"Majority of Americans Lack Confidence in Obama's ISIS Strategy, Poll Finds"}}]}] ```