(REUTERS) - US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he "would bomb the hell out of ISIS" before a campaign rally in Worcester, Massachusetts, on Wednesday (Nov 18).

Mr Trump went on to explain his position with the Syrian refugee crisis, saying if he became president, they would all go back.

"If we take in thousands and thousands, if we have five that come in that are ISIS - look at the damage they did, a small number, in Paris. Look at the damage they've done. So I said very strongly if I win, if I become president, they're going back. We're going to do it nicely, we're going to do it humanely, they'll probably be happy to go back in a certain way..." he told the media.

American voters are evenly split between Mr Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as their top choice to address the issue of terrorism following the Paris attacks, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

Asked to choose from the entire field of 2016 presidential hopefuls, 20 per cent of 1,106 respondents surveyed between Nov 16-17 opted for Mr Trump. An equal share of the electorate picked Mrs Clinton.