President George W. Bush claims America is safer today because of his failed war in Iraq and his politically-hyped "war on terrorism," but the American public ain’t buying his argument.
Less than half of Americans believe the United States is now safer from terrorism than it was before September 11, 2001, according to a CNN poll released Wednesday.
Forty-three percent of 1,033 adults surveyed by Opinion Research Corporation said they think the country is safer now than it was before the 9/11 attacks. Thirty-two percent said they believe it is about as safe, while 25 percent said it is less safe.
The telephone poll was conducted August 18-20. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Other questions were posed to a half sample, or 517 people, and have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
Among those responses, 54 percent said they think it is "very likely" or "somewhat likely" an act of terrorism will occur in the United States within the next several weeks, though just 36 percent said they are worried that they or someone in their family could become a victim of terrorism.
And 11 percent said they believe their community will be the target of such an attack. However, if their community were attacked, 70 percent said they consider their local police force unprepared.
And 55 percent said they believe the federal government is unprepared for a terrorist attack targeting any U.S. town or city. Another 52 percent said the government is unprepared to handle the damage the attack might cause.
Sixty-five percent, however, said they are either "not too worried" or "not worried at all" that they or someone in their family will become a victim of terrorism. Thirty-six percent said they are "very" or "somewhat" worried.
Fifty-five percent of poll respondents said they believe the U.S.-led war in Iraq has made the country less safe from terrorist attacks, and 59 percent said the war has made the world less safe from terrorism.
