Politics

Poll finds majority of Americans believe US changed for the worse following 9/11

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Just 49% of Americans see the United States as safer from terrorism than it was before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, down from 64% a decade ago, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.

41% instead say the United States has become less safe since 9/11, reflecting both renewed partisan divisions and the tumultuous withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. A vast 86% in this poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, also say the events of Sept. 11 had a lasting effect on the United States. But underscoring the public’s sour mood on this issue, 46%, a new high, say it’s been a change for the worse. That easily exceeds the 33% who see a change for the better, half as many as said so in spring 2002 [ABC].

Confidence peaked in 2003 and 2004, fell steeply in 2005 after the London transit bombings, held especially high among Republicans during the Bush administration, plummeted among Republicans two years later under the Obama administration, then rose sharply across groups after the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011,” according to the report.

The poll comes weeks after the U.S. withdrew all troops from Afghanistan to end America’s longest war and two days before the nation marks the 20th anniversary of the tragedy in New York City, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., where 2,753 lives were lost. Biden on Saturday will visit all three sites where planes crashed on that day to commemorate the victims and heroes.

The ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cellular telephone Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 2021, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,006 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 percentage points [Newsmax].

MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE
PHOTO CREDITS: BOSTON GLOBE

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