For the past decade, we have collected and analyzed polls on the war on terror, and this week’s new polls confirm the conclusions we reached in our recent AEI Public Opinion Study on aspects of the war.
Americans believe government has done a good job handling terrorism. In a new poll conducted by Pew, 76 percent said the government was doing well in reducing the threat. The new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found a plurality (42 percent) saying that we are safer than we were before 9/11; only 21 percent said we are less safe. People believe George W. Bush made the country safer. In a new AP/GfK-Roper poll, 60 percent felt President Obama would keep us safe.
Americans are less likely today than ten years ago to say that the “average American” will have to give up some civil liberties to fight terrorism. Still, they want the government to err on the side of protecting them and the country. They approved of the Patriot Act, supported domestic surveillance of potential terrorists without a court order, and favor airline security measures. While they are understandably reluctant to use assassinations or torture, they won’t rule them out. And most Americans seem receptive to additional security measures in response to terrorist threats. A plurality of 47 percent favored requiring people to carry a national ID card in a new AP-NORC poll. Seventy-one percent supported installation of cameras in public places to watch for suspicious activity.
The terrorist threat has receded in our minds as the nation’s top problem, partly due to the government’s efforts. But the memories of 9/11 remain. Ninety-seven percent of respondents to Pew’s poll remember where they were that day. In the ten years since 9/11, Americans have come to recognize the dangers of the new world we live in.
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