Terrorism (7)

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Sept. 11, 2001 (War on Terrorism, p. 7)

Polls listed chronologically.

*ABC News/Washington* Post Poll**. June 7-9, 2002. N=1,004 adults nationwide. MoE ą 3. Field work by TNS Intersearch.
						.
"Do you approve or disapprove of Bush's proposal to create a new federal agency called the Department of Homeland Security?"
		Approve	Disap- prove	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	6/02	69	19	12
						.
"Do you think a new Department of Homeland Security would or would not improve the government's ability to prevent further terrorist attacks?"
		Would	Would Not	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	6/02	74	21	5
						.
"How would you rate the job done by the FBI, CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies in analyzing and sharing information about possible terrorist attacks before last September 11? Would you say they did an excellent job, a good job, a not-so-good job, or a poor job analyzing and sharing intelligence information?"
		Excellent	Good	Not-So- Good	Poor	No Opinion
		%	%	%	%	%
	6/02	2	25	34	38	2
						.
"How about now? In analyzing and sharing information about possible future terrorist attacks, would you say the FBI, CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies are now doing an excellent job, a good job, a not-so-good job, or a poor job?"
		Excellent	Good	Not-So- Good	Poor	No Opinion
		%	%	%	%	%
	6/02	11	56	20	8	5
						.
"Given what you've heard about the information U.S. intelligence agencies had before the September 11th attacks, do you think U.S. intelligence agencies had enough information to prevent the attacks, if they'd been able to pull it together; or do you think the information was too vague and incomplete for the September 11th attacks to have been prevented?"
		Had Enough	Too Vague	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	6/02	42	53	5

*CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll*. June 7-8, 2002. N=800 adults nationwide. MoE ą 4.
						.
"Overall, how much do you blame each of the following for the September 11th terrorist attacks: a great deal, a moderate amount, only a little, or not at all? How about . . . ?"
		Great Deal	Moderate Amount	Only a Little	Not At All	No Opinion
		%	%	%	%	%
	The Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA
	6/02	19	32	24	20	5
	5/02	19	30	27	18	6
						.
	The Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI
	6/02	19	32	25	21	3
	5/02	16	29	24	27	4
						.
"Which comes closer to your view: no one could have predicted the attacks of September 11th, or the government should have been able to predict the attacks of September 11th given the information available to it?"
				6/02	5/02
				%	%
	No one could have predicted			50	58
	Should have been able to predict			45	38
	No opinion			5	4
						.
"As you may know, shortly after the September 11th terrorist attacks, President Bush created the office of Homeland Security. Now, Bush is proposing that this office be combined with many existing government agencies to create a new cabinet-level department. Do you approve or disapprove of the creation of a new cabinet Department of Homeland Security?"
		Approve	Disap- prove	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	6/02	72	20	8
						.
"If the government creates a new cabinet Department of Homeland Security, how effective do you think this new department would be in protecting the U.S. from future acts of terrorism: very effective, somewhat effective, not too effective, or not effective at all?"
		Very	Some- what	Not Too	Not At All	No Opinion
		%	%	%	%	%
	6/02	20	55	13	8	4
						.
"Which comes closer to your view of why George W. Bush announced the formation of the new cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security? Did he announce it solely because he felt it was in the best interests of the country, or did he announce it to divert attention from reports that the government failed to take action on warnings about terrorist attacks it received prior to Sept. 11?"
		Best Interests	Divert Attention	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	6/02	56	37	7

FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll. June 4-5, 2002. N=900 registered voters nationwide. MoE ą 3.
					.
"Which terrorist activity do you think is the biggest threat right now? . . ."
				%
	Chemical or biological weapons			29
	Individual suicide bombings			16
	Water or food supplies being poisoned or infected			12
	Truck or car bombs			10
	Tactical nuclear weapons or dirty bombs			10
	Planes being hijacked and crashed			7
	Not sure			16
					.
"How long do you think it will be before a terrorist detonates a nuclear device inside the United States? . . ."
			%
	Six months or less		7
	7 months to 12 months		9
	In the next 1-5 years		23
	6-10 years from now		8
	More than 10 years from now		10
	Never		22
	Not sure		21
					.
"Last week Attorney General John Ashcroft announced new rules giving FBI agents working on detecting and preventing terrorism more leeway to attend mosques or other religious places, go to political rallies and monitor Internet sites, without first having evidence of wrongdoing. Do you approve or disapprove of these new surveillance rules?"
		%
	Approve	66
	Disapprove	22
	Not sure	12

Gallup Poll. May 20-22, 2002. N=1,002 adults nationwide. MoE ą 3 (total sample).
					.
"As you may know, the Administration says that some general information was available to the FBI or White House officials before September 11th concerning terrorist plans by Osama bin Laden, but that there was no specific information about the September 11th attacks in particular. "Which comes closer to your view about White House officials' actions in this situation: they did the best job they could have done with the information available to them, or they could have done a better job handling this information?"
		Did Best Job	Could Have Done Better	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	5/02	54	44	2
					.
"Thinking about how the Republicans and Democrats in Congress have reacted to this controversy: Which comes closer to your view about the Republicans' in Congress reaction: they are more interested in protecting the President, or they are more interested in finding out what really happened?"
				%
	Protecting the President			50
	Finding out what really happened			40
	No opinion			10
					.
"Which comes closer to your view about the Democrats' in Congress reaction: they are more interested in making the President look bad, or they are more interested in finding out what really happened?"
				%
	Making the President look bad			54
	Finding out what really happened			39
	No opinion			7

CBS News Poll. May 19-20, 2002. N=681 adults nationwide. MoE ą 4.
						.
"Some people have said that the September 11th terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon represent the biggest failure for American intelligence operations since Pearl Harbor. Do you think that these attacks were something that government intelligence agencies should have been able to discover in advance?"
		Yes	No	Don't Know
		%	%	%
	5/19-20/02	54	36	10
						.
"When you think about the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, do you place a lot of blame, some blame, or no blame at all on the United States intelligence agencies like the CIA and the FBI?"
		A Lot	Some	None	Don't Know
		%	%	%	%
	5/19-20/02	13	53	29	5
						.
"Was the Bush Administration paying enough or not enough attention to terrorism prior to September 11th?"
		Enough	Not Enough	Don't Know
		%	%	%
	5/19-20/02	22	67	11
						.
"Is the Bush Administration paying enough or not enough attention to terrorism now?"
		Enough	Not Enough	Too Much (vol.)	Don't Know
		%	%	%	%
	5/19-20/02	83	14	1	1
						.
"Do you think that George W. Bush personally knew before September 11th about intelligence reports that warned of possible terrorist attacks against the United States using airplanes, or not?"
		Knew	Did Not Know	Don't Know
		%	%	%
	5/19-20/02	41	43	16
						.
"Do you think that senior members of the Bush Administration personally knew before September 11th about intelligence reports that warned of possible terrorist attacks against the United States using airplanes, or not?"
		Knew	Did Not Know	Don't Know
		%	%	%
	5/19-20/02	50	33	17
						.
"Do you think the intelligence agencies -- the FBI and the CIA -- had information before September 11th that could have prevented the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, or didn't they have that information?"
		Did Have	Did Not Have	Don't Know
		%	%	%
	5/19-20/02	48	36	16
						.
"When it comes to what they knew prior to September 11th about possible terrorist attacks against the United States, do you think members of the Bush Administration are telling the entire truth, are mostly telling the truth but hiding something, or are they mostly lying?"
		Entire Truth	Hiding Something	Mostly Lying	Don't Know
		%	%	%	%
	5/19-20/02	21	65	8	6
						.
"Do you think Congress should hold hearings to investigate what the White House knew about possible terrorist attacks, or don't you think that is necessary?"
		Should Hold Hearings	Not Necessary	Don't Know
		%	%	%
	5/19-20/02	36	62	2

*ABC News/Washington* Post Poll**. May 18-19, 2002. N=803 adults nationwide. MoE ą 3.5. Field work by TNS Intersearch.
						.
"Do you think the United States government did all it reasonably could do to try to prevent the September 11th terrorist attacks, or do you think it could have done more?"
		Did All It Could	Could Have Done More	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	5/02	43	53	3
						.
"Do you happen to have heard or read recent news stories that Bush was briefed last summer, before the September 11th terrorist attacks, about intelligence reports of a possible terrorist plot to hijack American airplanes?"
		Yes	No	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	5/02	83	16	1
						.
"Do you think the Bush Administration did or did not do enough to follow up on these intelligence reports, given what was known at the time?"
		Did Enough	Did Not Do Enough	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	5/02	44	46	10
						.
"Does it sound to you like these intelligence reports were detailed enough for the government to have taken specific action to increase security, or do you think these reports were too vague for the government to know what action to take?"
		Detailed Enough	Too Vague	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	5/02	32	56	12
						.
"It's also been reported that an FBI agent last July proposed an investigation of Arabs taking flight-school training in the United States. The FBI did not follow up on this proposal. Do you regard this more as a missed opportunity, or more as negligence on the part of the FBI?"
		Missed Oppor- tunity	Negli- gence	Both (vol.)	Neither (vol.)	No Opinion
		%	%	%	%	%
	5/02	41	50	3	2	4
						.
"Do you think the Administration should or should not publicly release the intelligence information about terrorist threats that it had last summer?"
		Should	Should Not	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	5/02	47	47	5
						.
"Do you think the U.S. Congress should or should not conduct an investigation into what the Bush Administration knew about terrorist threats before September 11th and how it handled that intelligence?"
		Should	Should Not	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	5/02	56	41	3
						.
"Compared to the way it handled intelligence reports about terrorist threats last summer, do you think the Bush Administration is now doing a better job handling intelligence about terrorist threats, a worse job, or what?"
		Better	Worse	About the Same (vol.)	No Opinion
		%	%	%	%
	5/02	82	3	6	9

NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted by the polling organizations of Peter Hart (D) and Robert Teeter (R). May 18, 2002. N=602 adults nationwide. MoE ą 4.
					.
"Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the measures the Bush Administration took based on the information they had prior to September eleventh?"
		Satisfied	Dissat- isfied	Not Sure
		%	%	%
	5/02	58	31	11
					.
"Do you think that the Bush Administration did as much as was reasonable because it was impossible to predict that airplanes would be used as weapons, or do you think that the Bush Administration could have done more to prevent or warn about hijackings even if they did not know airplanes would be used as weapons?"
		Did As Much As Reasonable	Could Have Done More	Not Sure
		%	%	%
	5/02	53	41	6
					.
"Do you think that there should be a full-scale investigation into the handling of intelligence before September eleventh, or do you feel that this would be unproductive and too political?"
				%
	Should be a full-scale investigation			36
	Investigation would be unproductive			58
	Not sure			6

Newsweek Poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates. May 16-17, 2002. N=1,002 adults nationwide. MoE ą 3.
						.
"Thinking about the warnings the Bush Administration received before the September 11th terrorist attacks, did the following individuals do all they should have with the information, or not? . . ."
		Did	Did Not	Don't Know
		%	%	%
	Top FBI officials
	5/02	30	53	17
						.
	Top CIA officials
	5/02	28	53	19
						.
	The President's national security advisers
	5/02	38	46	16
						.
	The President himself
	5/02	48	39	13
						.
"Now thinking about information available to the U.S. government before the September 11th attacks, do you think that the Bush Administration should have issued public warnings about possible airline hijackings?"
			%
	Yes, should have		55
	No		38
	Don't know		7
						.
"Do you think such warnings would have prevented the September 11th attacks or not?"
			%
	Yes, would have		25
	No		67
	Don't know		8
						.
"Again, thinking about information available to the U.S. government before the September 11th attacks, do you think the FBI should have investigated all Arab nationals taking pilot training or not?"
			%
	Yes, should have		77
	No		18
	Don't know		5
						.
"Do you think the Clinton Administration did all it could have to detect and prepare for a possible terrorist attack on the United States?"
			%
	Yes, all it could have		27
	No		59
	Don't know		14
						.
"How much of the blame, if any, do you think each of the following deserves for allowing the September 11th terrorist attacks to happen? What about [see below]? Does this deserve a lot of the blame, some, only a little, or none?"
		A Lot	Some	Only a Little	None	Don't Know
		%	%	%	%	%
	Failure of the FBI and CIA's intelligence efforts to identify and stop terrorist plots from being carried out
	5/02	39	35	14	6	6
	9/13-14/01	30	39	19	8	4