Poll: Only 44% think Fort Hood murders were an act of terrorism

It’s tempting to blame this on the media for shoving the dopey PTSD narrative down people’s throats initially, but the hard fact of the matter is that there’s been plenty of reporting on the terrorism angle by now. Search our archives for the keyword “Hasan” and see for yourself how much. And it keeps coming. Just today, we’ve had a new bombshell at ABC about Hasan telling his jihadbot cleric pal that he couldn’t wait to join him in the afterlife; a report at the Wash Times on testimony by a retired general about detecting jihadis in the ranks; a story from CNN about a security expert angry at the military’s protracted foot-dragging in rooting out extremists; and, just within the last hour or so, a scoop from the AP about Carl Levin being briefed by the Army and finding out that there may be still more e-mails from Hasan that investigators overlooked. Levin himself now says he considers the murders an act of terrorism.

The public’s had plenty of opportunity to educate itself. And yet:

A Fox News poll released Friday finds nearly half of the public — 49 percent — think the shooting is most accurately described as “a killing spree.” Almost as many — 44 percent — say the incident should be called an “act of terrorism.”

Among groups, young people under age 35 see it as a killing spree (61 percent), but seniors 65 and over are more likely to describe it as terrorism (57 percent). Democrats are more likely to call it a killing spree (63 percent), while Republicans tend to call it terrorism (58 percent). Men divide evenly between the two descriptions, while a majority of women say the shooting was a killing spree (53 percent) rather than terrorism (41 percent)…

Asked about Hasan’s possible motive for the shooting, 45 percent think he is someone who just went nuts one day and opened fire, while 38 percent think he is a Muslim extremist protesting U.S. foreign policy. One in 10 thinks it was some of both.

Here’s the most depressing data point. Questions about his motive are at least nominally debatable until Hasan himself speaks. This question isn’t debatable. There are people who knew him who are on record as saying that he was potentially dangerous and that it was political correctness that let him slip through the cracks. And yet:

The Democratic split speaks for itself. Exit question: 61 percent of people under 35 — people who’ve come of age in a post-9/11 world — can’t see any evidence of jihadism here? Good lord.