Protesters on opposing sides of the Syrian refugee resettlement issue rally in front of the state capital in Olympia, Wash. on Nov. 20. | AP Photo Poll: Americans see homegrown jihadis as top terror threat

American voters are far more concerned about the threat of homegrown terrorism than the potential for jihadists to be hiding among refugees coming from Syria, according to the results of the latest Quinnipiac University national poll registered voters released Thursday.

Just 16 percent said the potential of terrorists lurking among Syrian refugees posed the greatest terrorist threat to the U.S., while 17 percent said radicalized foreign visitors were the most dangerous. A majority of 58 percent saw born-and-bred American jihadists as the most pressing threat of all, a concern echoed among all party, ideological, age and gender lines surveyed.


Voters also supported changing gun laws to ban people on terror watch lists from purchasing guns, 77 percent to 18 percent, earning approval along all lines as well. The poll was taken before Wednesday's mass-shooting incident in San Bernardino, Calif., but includes some results taken after the assault on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colo., and reflects Americans' heightened security fears in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Despite their overwhelming concern about homegrown terrorists, 52 percent overall said that the United States should not accept any Syrian refugees, while 42 percent said it should. On a partisan basis, Democrats supported allowing in the refugees 68 percent to 23 percent, while Republicans opposed it strongly, 84 percent to 14 percent. Among independents, 46 percent supported and 49 percent opposed.

Roughly six in 10 (61 percent) said that they worried more about the government not going far enough to protect the country than they did it encroaching upon their personal freedom, while just a little more than one in four (27 percent) feel that the U.S. has gone too far in restricting civil liberties.

Overall, 83 percent of voters said that it is very likely (44 percent) or somewhat likely (39 percent) that terrorists will strike the U.S. in the near future, resulting in a large loss of life. Among Republicans, 62 percent called it very likely, while 32 percent called it somewhat likely. Among Democrats, just 29 percent deemed it very likely and 46 percent thought it somewhat likely.

The latest survey comes as momentum to stem the flow of Syrian refugees has itself slowed in Congress this week, after the House passed a bill on Nov. 19 that would effectively suspend refugees from Iraq and Syria from entering the U.S. until federal agencies could effectively verify that they were not a security threat. That vote came less than week after ISIL terrorists murdered 130 people in and around Paris on Nov. 13, prompting concerns that at least one of them could have come from Syria. Of the attackers whose identities are known, all are French or Belgian nationals.

To that point, the White House announced earlier in the week that it would take steps to strengthen its visa waiver program, and Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake told POLITICO on Tuesday that others in his caucus are starting to view foreign nationals as more of a threat than refugees.

The poll was conducted Nov. 23-30, surveying 1,453 registered voters via landlines and cellphones. The overall margin of error is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.