Poll: Majority thinks GOP likely to do a better job on fostering prosperity, anti-terrorism

A majority of Americans think Republicans are more able to protect the country from terrorist threats and increase U.S. prosperity, according to a new poll released Friday.

According to the Gallup poll, 49 percent of Americans say the Republican Party is better equipped to protect the U.S. from global military and terrorist threats, while 38 percent say Democrats are better able. Since roughly 2008, most Americans have been saying that the Republican Party is more likely to do a better job protecting Americans from terrorist and international military threats.

Similarly, on maintaining economic prosperity, 48 percent choose the Republican party and 39 percent choose the Democratic party. On both military threats and prosperity, 13 percent of those surveyed said they did not have an opinion or see any difference. By contrast, in 2008, 50 percent of those surveyed by Gallup said the Democratic party was more likely to keep the country prosperous in the coming years and 39 percent said the Republicans were more likely.

The poll's results come the same day that the White House has confirmed that a top al Qaeda commander, Anwar al-Awlaki, had been killed in Yemen. The U.S. has been ramping up its airstrike and drone presence in the country recently and Defense Secretary Lean Panetta said in July one of his top objectives was to take Awlaki from power.