August 08, 2007

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many people in the United States feel their country is less safe now than six years ago when, it was the target of a major terrorist attack, according to a poll by Hart/Newhouse released by The Wall Street Journal and NBC News. 37 per cent of respondents feel the U.S. is more vulnerable today, up 14 points since September.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many people in the United States feel their country is less safe now than six years ago when, it was the target of a major terrorist attack, according to a poll by Hart/Newhouse released by The Wall Street Journal and NBC News. 37 per cent of respondents feel the U.S. is more vulnerable today, up 14 points since September.

Conversely, 34 per cent of respondents think the U.S. is safer now—down eight points in 10 months—and 27 per cent believe the country is about as safe.

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."

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.

Earlier this month, homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff discussed last year's scheme, saying, "I think that the plot, in terms of its intent, was looking at devastation on a scale that would have rivalled 9/11. If they had succeeded in bringing liquid explosives on seven or eight aircraft, there could have been thousands of lives lost and an enormous economic impact with devastating consequences for international air travel."

Polling Data

Do you think that, as a country, we are more safe, about as safe, or less safe than we were before the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001?

	Jul. 2007	Sept. 2006	Sept. 2005
More safe	34%	42%	31%
About as safe	27%	32%	37%
Less safe	37%	23%	31%
Not sure	2%	3%	1%

Source: Hart/Newhouse / The Wall Street Journal / NBC News
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,005 American adults, conducted from Jul. 27 to Jul. 30, 2007. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.