The Harris Poll^® #60, June 22, 2007

The War on Terror: What is it? Who Are Our Enemies and How Likely Are Different Types of Terrorist Attacks in the U.S.?

Majority Believes Invasion of Iraq has Made U.S. Less Safe From Terrorism.

About half (49%) of all adult Americans believe that the "war on terror" really is a war. Most Republicans (76%) and half of all Independents (49%) think it is a war, while only about one-third (31%) of Democrats agree with them. One of the stated reasons given for supporting the invasion of Iraq was to make this country less vulnerable to terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorists. Most people (55%) now think the invasion of Iraq has made this country less safe and only one-third (33%) believe it has made us safer.

These are some of the results of a Harris Poll of 2,372 adults surveyed online between June 5 and 11, 2007 by Harris Interactive^®.

Insofar as there is a "war on terror", majorities of the public see several enemies. Al Qaeda (75%), the Taliban (63%), all Muslim terrorists wherever they are (60%), and the insurgents in Iraq (51%) are believed to be "our real enemies in the war on terror". Substantial minorities also see other "real enemies", the Iranian government (42%), the North Korean government (38%), and the Syrian government (29%).

How Likely Are Different Types of Attack?

Substantial majorities think it likely that the United States will suffer a suicide bomb attack in a shopping mall (82%), a chemical/poison gas attack (70%), a biochemical attack using infectious diseases (69%), and an attack on a nuclear power plant (62%). However, only minorities think these are "very likely".

Substantial minorities also believe that another airplane attack like 9/11 (48%) and a nuclear bomb exploding in a city (42%) are likely.

So What?

Most Americans are clearly concerned that there will be other very serious attacks by terrorists in the future. They do not buy the argument that invading Iraq has made that less likely, and they see a number of different groups as enemies. This suggests that protecting the country from terrorist attacks could be an important – possibly a very important – issue in the 2008 elections, even if there is no agreement that we are in a "war on terror".

TABLE 1

IS THE WAR ON TERROR REALLY A WAR?

Do you think the ‘war on terror’ really is a war?

Base: All Adults

	Total	Party ID
	Total	Republican	Democrat	Independent
	%	%	%	%
Yes, it is a war	49	76	31	49
No, it is not a war	40	17	56	43
Not sure	11	7	13	9

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 2

WHO ARE OUR REAL ENEMIES?

Who do you think are our real enemies in the war on terror?

Base: All Adults

	Total
	%
Al Qaeda	75
The Taliban in Afghanistan	63
All Muslim terrorists wherever they are	60
The insurgents in Iraq	51
The Iranian government	42
The North Korean government	38
The Syrian government	29
None of these	6
Not sure	10

Note: Multiple Response Question

TABLE 3

HAS INVASION OF IRAQ MADE US MORE OR LESS VULNERABLE?

Has our invasion of Iraq made the United States more or less safe from terrorist attacks in the future?

Base: All Adults

	Total
	%
MORE SAFE (NET)	33
Much more safe	8
Somewhat more safe	25
LESS SAFE (NET)	55
Somewhat less safe	26
Much less safe	29
Not sure	12

TABLE 4

LIKELIHOOD OF SIX DIFFERENT TYPES OF TERRORIST ATTACKS

How would you rate the likelihood of each of the following happening as a terrorist attack in the United States?

Base: All Adults

	LIKELY (NET)	Very Likely	Somewhat Likely	NOT LIKELY (NET)	Not That Likely	Not at all Likely	Not Sure
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
A suicide bomber in a shopping mall	82	40	42	13	11	2	5
A chemical attack using a poison gas	70	23	47	24	19	5	6
A biochemical attack using diseases such as anthrax or small pox	69	24	45	25	20	6	5
An attack on a nuclear power station	62	19	43	32	25	7	6
Another attack using airplanes like 9/11	48	15	33	47	33	14	5
A nuclear bomb exploding in a city	42	14	28	51	33	18	7

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Methodology

This Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between June 5 and 11, 2007 among 2,372 adults, Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

J 30887

Q 500, 515, 520, 526