Thread: Poll: Terrorism fears are fading

(CNN) -- As Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama battle over who has the best approach to national security, a new CNN poll finds Americans' concerns about terrorism have hit an all-time low for the post-September 11 era.
A poll finds fewer Americans fear an imminent terror attack than at any time since September 11, 2001.





According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Wednesday, 35 percent of Americans believe a terrorist attack somewhere in the United States is likely over the next several weeks.
The figure is the lowest in a CNN poll since the September 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
Between 2002 and 2006, summertime polls typically showed that a majority of Americans believed that a terrorist attack was likely. Last summer, that figure dropped to 41 percent. This summer, it dropped another 6 percentage points.
The latest CNN poll also indicates that the war in Iraq remains deeply unpopular. Three in 10 voters favor the war, while 68 percent oppose it. Similarly, a third of voters would like to see the next president keep the same number of troops in Iraq that are stationed there now.

Poll: Terrorism fears are fading - CNN.com


Did Karl Rove retire?

al-CIAda better get hard to work blowing up Americans before they start waking up from this "terrorism" fear-induced slumber.

I don't know anybody that has walked around in fear of another terrorist attack, not during 911 nor since.

Approx. 1/3 favor the war, 1/3 want to keep the same number of troops in Iraq, 1/3 approve of how Bush is doing his job, and 1/3 believe an attack is imminent.

Does anyone else see a pattern here?

I'd love to see if it is the same 1/3 for all of those cases. I'd also like to see their party affiliations.

I see a problem with polls today. First of all, the way questions are posed can affect the outcome of the poll. Sometimes a poll question is poorly written. More often, they are deliberately biased by the pollster.

Possibly a bigger problem than that is the growing sophistication of Americans when it comes to polling. Sampling sizes are usually pretty small. That means it doesn't take a lot of people to skew a poll for their own agenda.

For example, you may favor the war, want to keep troops in Iraq, and fear the next 9/11 but you absolutely hate Bush. As soon as you are asked about Bush's approval, you immediately know to say you are against anything he is for. Likewise, the opposite can be true.

When confronted with the question of say, "Who will you vote for in the next election?," you might tell the person on the other end asking the question that you plan to vote for Obama. If fact, you might be a racist and would never dream of voting for a man of color. That actually happened in some of the Democrat primaries.

The question seems oddly worded to come to the conclusion that the writer came to in this article. It is with a good deal of certainty that I feel some sort of terror attack will happen in this country. The Fourth of July is always a possible target date because of the symbolism but logically I feel it is more likely just before or just after the November election or possibly late January.

To say, as the poll indicated, that only those who feel attack is likely in the next few weeks "fear" an attack, just doesn't make sense. The word "fear" is not one that you should use in a poll or to describe the results of a poll. I can logically feel an attack may happen without be fearful about it. I could absolutely "dread" the thought of another 9/11 without thinking it is going to happen in all probability.

Articles are written to catch your attention (especially the headlines). Poll questions are usually omitted from the article and all you get is the author's interpretation of the numbers in the poll. That, of course, is a whole other problem with polls.

Originally Posted by Defensor

al-CIAda better get hard to work blowing up Americans before they start waking up from this "terrorism" fear-induced slumber.

They got something coming up real quick like.

Terrorism fears are fading ....I'll fix that....Boo!

So Islamic terrorism doesn't exist? Interesting.

Originally Posted by Conservative15

So Islamic terrorism doesn't exist? Interesting.

Shivering in my boots.

Originally Posted by Conservative15

So Islamic terrorism doesn't exist? Interesting.

So I take this to mean you haven't seen my clever Photoshop of an Iranian submarine attacking your local IHOP?

Originally Posted by Migi e!

I don't know anybody that has walked around in fear of another terrorist attack...

...just Muslims....especially black Muslims. But not terrorism. No siree.