An alarming percentage of young Americans have a favorable opinion of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, according to a new survey.
In a poll conducted by J.L. Partners for the Daily Mail, 20 percent of 18-28 year-olds had a positive view of the terror leader while 52 percent had a negative view of him. Three in 10 Gen Z voters, meanwhile, said the global terrorist’s views were a “force for good.”
Bin Laden’s terror organization al Qaeda was responsible for the attack that killed nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as many other attacks worldwide.
Family members of 9/11 victims called the poll’s findings “horrifying” and said it was a sign the educational system is failing to adequately teach U.S. students about those responsible for the attack, including Bin Laden, who was taken out by Navy SEALs in 2011.
When 18 to 29-year-olds were asked what they thought of the Saudi Arabian warlord, eight percent said they had a 'completely positive' view while 12 percent said they had a 'somewhat positive' perspective.
Among black voters, almost one in five (18 percent) shared the same positive views.
Eight percent of the Gen Z age group said both Bin Laden's 'views and actions' were good, while 23 percent said his views were good but his actions were bad.
Overall, 81 percent of American voters said they had negative views of him, while just under one in ten (eight percent) viewed him positively.
Fourteen percent said the terrorist leader had some 'some good in terms of either his views, actions or both' while 70 percent said both his views and actions were bad.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. was united in tracking down Bin Laden and the terrorists responsible.
And in 2011, shortly after he was shot and killed, a poll of 22 countries found that three-quarters believed the United States was justified in taking him out.
The stunning results of DailyMail.com's poll reveal a stark change in attitudes and follow worrying examples in recent months of younger Americans questioning Bin Laden's evil. (Daily Mail)
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The findings also come after TikTok users made Bin Laden’s “Letter to America” go viral after Hamas’ 10/7 attack on Israel, which attempted to justify the attack. TikTok has since made a number of efforts to remove the content.
"It is hard to avoid the conclusion that there is a cancer in the American body politic: a small but sizeable group of its youngest voters," J.L. Partners founder James Johnson told the Daily Mail.
"Polling has found that 18-29-year-olds are most likely to deny the Holocaust and, in our October Daily Mail poll we found that Gen Z Americans are more likely to sympathize with Hamas," he continued. "And now we have this on Osama Bin Laden, the man behind the biggest attack on American soil in its history.
"A few weeks ago his writings went viral, with young Americans praising the Islamist leader. Some wrote that off as a few shrill voices on social media, others suggested it was fake," Johnson added. "This poll shows that was no fad, but a reflection of real opinion amongst one in five 18-29-year-olds."
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