Many people in the United States fear their country could become the target of terrorism again in the future, according to a poll by Zogby Interactive released by UPI. 89.2 per cent of respondents say a deadly attack of this sort is very or somewhat likely to happen within the next five years.
In addition, 51.8 per cent of respondents think terrorists are very or somewhat likely to strike the U.S. within the next 12 months.
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."
At this time, the U.S. is under an "elevated" national threat advisory, which means there is a significant risk of terrorist attacks according to the Department of Homeland Security.
On Apr. 25, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is seeking the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in 2008, accused the Democrats of being "soft" on terrorism, saying, "They do not seem to get the fact that there are people, terrorists in this world, really dangerous people that want to come here and kill us. (...) They want to take us back to not being as alert which to me will just extend this war much, much longer."
Polling Data
Likelihood of a deadly terrorist attack within five years
| Very likely | 42.5% |
| Somewhat likely | 36.7% |
| Somewhat unlikely | 10.5% |
| Very unlikely | 3.1% |
Likelihood of a deadly terrorist attack within 12 months
| Very likely | 8.4% |
| Somewhat likely | 43.4% |
| Somewhat unlikely | 27.7% |
| Very unlikely | 10.3% |
Source: Zogby Interactive / UPI
Methodology: Online interviews with 5,932 American adults, conducted from Apr. 13 to Apr. 16, 2007. Margin of error is 1.3 per cent.
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