The Question That Prompted Josh Earnest to Talk About 'President Romney

Almost getting into the realm of alternative histories, White House press secretary Josh Earnest seemed dismissive of a Gallup poll that found a new low in the share of American citizens who are confident that the government can protect against a terror attack against the United States.

Gallup found a week after the shooting in San Bernardino, California, Americans' confidence in the federal government's ability to protect citizens from acts of terrorism has dropped to 55 percent. That new all-time low is not only about a 20-point drop from the when Obama took office in 2009, but is also and a major fall from the high of 75 percent that was reported during the president's 2012 re-election.

"Let me just start by noting, the Gallup organization was the one that consistently predicted Mitt Romney would be president of the United States," Earnest said. "So, I’m not sure how they feel about President Romney’s performance at protecting the homeland. Maybe that would be a cool question the next time around."

President Barack Obama and 2012 Republican presidential nominee  Mitt Romney. (AP)

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was slightly leading President Barack Obama ahead of the 2012 presidential election, Gallup reported, as did other polling companies.

Earnest did not believe the result was a reflection of the Obama administration's policies.

"More seriously, I do think the president is keenly aware about the concern across the country and when we see an attack like the one that we saw in Paris, and we saw so many young innocent lives taken, and that’s combined with the heinous terrorist attack we saw in San Bernardino, that people’s concerns are elevated," Earnest said. "That’s why the president took the extraordinary step of asking the U.S. television networks for a short amount of time on a Sunday evening while 46 million people were watching television to address the nation to make sure they understood all the steps we had been taking and to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL and that they are keenly aware of steps we are taking here at home to protect the homeland."

Asked if the country is safer under Obama, Earnest said, "We certainly believe that’s the case." He cited increased border security, fewer troops located in Iraq and Afghanistan and coalition building.

"The United States has succeeded in building an international coalition to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL to ensure the United States is not in this fight alone, that we are getting strong support from the international community. Of course, the United States is leading in that effort, but we are not doing it alone," Earnest said.