‘Bomb Agrabah,’ Non-Existent City From Aladdin, Say A Shocking Number Of Both Democrats And Republicans

Chanting “Bomb Agrabah” might seem like a joke to hardcore fans of classic Disney films, but a recent poll found that 30 percent of Republicans and 19 percent of Democrats are convinced that the time has come to fight back against the fictional location where the 1992 animated classic Aladdin is set.

Public Policy Polling recently released data on their newest survey of GOP voters. Among the most salient findings was that slightly under one of every three conservatives polled responded affirmatively to the question, “Would you support or oppose bombing Agrabah?”

@ppppolls CNN just made a frightening announcement pic.twitter.com/OswjBTugQs

— HOT Weather Takes (@paulythegun) December 18, 2015

While it isn’t surprising that not everyone can name all of the 22 countries in the Middle East, much less all of the major metropolitan areas, it is perplexing to see such a wide margin advocating violence for a place it is impossible for them to know anything about. Tossing bombs on Agrabah because it is “Arab sounding” seems a troubling way to view foreign policy.

As previously noted, it’s not just GOP voters who want to have it out with Agrabah either. PPP reported that when they asked the same question to Democrats, 19 percent — only 11 percent less than Republicans — were also on board for the bombing to start.

We asked the Agrabah question to Dem primary voters too. They oppose bombing ‘it’ 36/19, while GOP supports bombing ‘it’ 30/13

— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) December 18, 2015

Then again, many of the other poll findings indicate that those who participated in the research are none too concerned with political correctness. In addition to supporting the campaign to bomb Agrabah, more than a quarter of the Republicans asked said that it should be illegal to practice Islam in the United States.

Also notable, nearly half of those respondents supported proposals to create a massive database of Muslim Americans for national security purposes. That same number also supported disallowing adherents of Islam to enter the U.S. Just over a quarter believe that the government should shut down mosques that are already here, perhaps fearing that bombing Agrabah would not sufficiently divert the threat of terrorism.

Many of these questions appeared to serve as a test of how well recent statements made by Donald Trump have connected with the public. Donald’s fans made up the largest majority — 41 percent — who supported bombing Aladdin’s Agrabah. For example, Donald recently alluded to a database of Muslims as well as closing down at least some Islamic religious centers. After those proposals were nearly universally condemned by conservatives and liberals alike, Trump walked back those statements, saying he had misspoken, and it was only refugees who he wanted to keep tabs on, concluded Politifact.

“Basically the suggestion was made and (it’s) certainly something we should start thinking about. But what I want is a watch list. I want surveillance programs. Obviously, there are a lot of problems. … But, certainly, I would want to have a database for the refugees, for the Syrian refugees that are coming in because nobody knows where they’re coming from.”

Apart from the “bomb Agrabah” question, PPP also more specifically honed in on which candidate its set of Republican voters had their eye on. In line with the majority of GOP primary counts, Donald is still coming in ahead of his competitors by a wide margin. Trump supporters made up 34 percent of participants, with the next candidate, Ted Cruz, coming in a full 16 percent behind him. Marco Rubio, at 13 percent, was the only other candidate to make up more than 8 percent of the vote.

What do you think the fake “bomb Agrabah” question about Aladdin’s city says about American voters?

[Image via canhasal/Flickr]