(08/10/07) -

Americans Still Worried About a Terrorist Attack

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Six years after the 9/11 attacks, many people in the United States feel their country remains a target for terrorists, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. 42 per cent of respondents are very or somewhat worried that there will soon be another terrorist attack in the U.S., down two points since last year.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Six years after the 9/11 attacks, many people in the United States feel their country remains a target for terrorists, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. 42 per cent of respondents are very or somewhat worried that there will soon be another terrorist attack in the U.S., down two points since last year.

Al-Qaeda operatives hijacked and crashed four airplanes in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people. In July 2004, the federal commission that investigated the events of 9/11 concluded that “none of the measures adopted by the U.S. government from 1998 to 2001 disturbed or even delayed the progress of the al-Qaeda plot” and pointed out government failures of “imagination, policy, capabilities, and management.” 47 per cent of respondents think the danger of a major attack on the U.S. is about the same as it was before 9/11.

In August 2006, London’s Metropolitan Police Service announced that more than 20 people had been arrested in connection with an alleged terrorist plot. According to the authorities, a group planned to destroy airplanes flying from Britain to the U.S. by detonating bombs manufactured with materials that could be brought on board as part of a passenger’s carry-on luggage.

Last month, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued an alert to all American airports warning to look for people practising to bring explosive components into airplanes. The TSA talked about “wires, switches, pipes or tubes, cell phone components and dense clay-like substances”—including block cheese—that the alleged terrorists would be trying to carry as pieces of an actual bomb. The warning, however, also stated: “There is no intelligence that indicates a specific or credible threat to the homeland.”

Polling Data

Half Sample – How worried are you that there will soon be another terrorist attack in the United States?

Half Sample – Do you think the danger of a major attack on the United States is greater now than it was before September 11th, less now than it was before September 11th, or is it about the same?