The permittivity in the frequency domain is transformed to the time domain, and the complex electric susceptibility dyadic matrix and the complex electric displacement vector in time domain are introduced. The three_dimensional finite_difference time_domain method based on the recursive convolution principle(RC_FDTD) for the electric anisotropic dispersive medium is discussed in detail. To exemplify the availability of the RC-FDTD algorithm, the backscattering RCS of a non-magnetized plasma sphere is computed, and the numerical results are the same as that of shift operator_FDTD method, which shows that the RC-FDTD method is correct and efficient. In addition, the co-polarized and cross-polarized backscattering waves in time domain for a magnetized plasma sphere are obtained by the RC-FDTD algorithm. The results show that when the external magnetic field is implemented, the cross-polarized component appear evidently.