About half of Americans (51 percent) say the use of nuclear weapons in a terrorist attack is at least somewhat likely. Sixty-six percent say the use of plutonium or other hazardous materials is at least somewhat likely and 86 percent say an attack with conventional explosives in a vehicle or one someone’s person is at least somewhat likely.
Overall, only 11 percent of Americans say they feel a lot less safe since the Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center; 20 percent say somewhat less; 29 percent a little less and 39 percent say the attacks did not make them feel less safe at all.
As the military buildup continues, a majority (65 percent) still favor attacking terrorist bases and the countries that harbor them, even if there is a high likelihood of civilian casualties.
Ninety percent of Americans support sending commandos or special forces to Afghanistan to attack a few targets or capture Osama bin Laden, the suspected terrorist behind the attacks, according to the poll. Sixty-eight percent support bombing or missile attacks without ground troops and 60 percent support sending in large numbers of ground troops to cover a wide area of the country.
President George W. Bush continues to get high marks for his handling of the situation resulting from the attacks-88 percent approve-and his job-approval rating remains at 86 percent. The two numbers are unchanged from last week’s poll.
To try to stimulate the economy and avoid a long recession, 89 percent of Americans favor major new government spending for security and infrastructure improvements and to help New York City. Sixty-one percent say they favor accelerated depreciation for new buildings and equipment that would reduce taxes for many businesses. And 54 percent favor cutting capital-gains taxes on profits from the sale of real estate, stocks and other investments, the NEWSWEEK poll shows. Just 42 percent favor another tax rebate to almost all Americans who pay income taxes.
Aside from putting sky marshals on planes and improved security at airports, 96 percent of those polled favor making cockpit doors on all passenger airliners stronger and more secure and 85 percent favor making the pilot’s top priority maintaining control of his aircraft rather than passenger comfort and safety; 68 percent favor arming pilots on flights. Just 59 percent favor giving the military authority to shoot down passenger airliners that appear to be hijacked for terrorist purposes.
While 40 percent of those polled say that their lives have returned to normal, 35 percent say they are just beginning to return to normal. Ony 15 percent say their lives will never be normal again.
For this NEWSWEEK Poll, Princeton Survey Research Associates interviewed by telephone 1,000 adults aged 18 and older on Sept. 27 and Sept. 28. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
