Gen Z has positive view of terrorist Osama bin Laden: poll

It has been revealed that one in five Gen-Z Americans have a positive view of terrorist Osama bin Laden, according to a recent poll conducted by the Daily Mail and JL Partners.

The poll also revealed that one in ten Americans under the age of 30 have a favorable view of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that launched a terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and slaughtered more than one thousand civilian men, women, and children.

When asked about their perception of Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11 terrorist attacks, eight percent of individuals aged 18 to 29 held a "completely positive" view, while 12 percent said they held a "somewhat positive" of the infamous terrorist.

Among black voters in the same age bracket, 18 percent shared the same positive views.

Of the Gen-Z age group, eight percent viewed Osama bin Laden's "views and actions" as good, compared to 23 percent who said his views were good but his actions were not, according to the poll.


Graphic: Daily Mail

In all, eight percent of American voters indicated they had a positive opinion of him, compared to 81 percent who said they had a negative opinion of bin Laden.

Fourteen percent said the terrorist leader had "some good in terms of either his views, actions or both" while 70 percent said both his views and actions were bad.

After the United States declared war following the aftermath of the attack, hunted down Osama bin Laden, and executed him in 2011, three out of four respondents from 22 countries supported America's effort to kill him, a poll from the time stated.

The startling poll results show a sharp shift in public opinion and coincide with unsettling instances of younger Americans recently doubting Bin Laden's depravity. 

In November, anti-Israel social media personalities on TikTok praised Osama bin Laden's infamous "Letter to America" which detailed why he launched the terrorist attack that killed nearly 3,000 people. Many sided with bin Laden and justified the heinous attack.

Some commenters agreed with him that the terrorist attacks were a response to the US backing Israel, saying their "eyes had been opened."

The letter was bin Laden's explanation of what led him and his followers to hate the United States and the ideology that encouraged him to massacre so many innocent civilians and turn American commercial airliners into bombs.

As TikTokers found the letter and began to share it, they expressed their agreement with the letter. The TikTokers, steeped in the world view that paints everyone and every nation as either an oppressor or a victim, want desperately to relate to the victim. This is how bin Laden portrayed himself, his terrorist friends, and Palestinians in his letter. American students have learned that victims are always in the right against a force they perceive as mightier than they are.

The letter quotes the Quran and tells Americans why they are hated and what they should do to stop being hated. He complains that American intervention had prevented Islamic governments from enacting the brutal Shari'ah laws that he advocated for and that these governments have "surrendered to the Jews."

He also insults America for creating laws based on God-given natural rights and encourages the US to adopt Shariah laws. If Americans would not comply, he said, they would continue to be attacked.