Tuesday, June 11, 2002

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll is based on telephone interviews with 1,004 randomly selected adults nationwide and was conducted June 7 - 9, 2002. The margin of sampling error for overall results is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Sampling error is only one of many potential sources of error in this or any other public opinion poll. Interviewing was conducted by TNS Intersearch of Horsham, Pa.

*= less than 0.5 percent

1. Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president? Do you approve/disapprove strongly or somewhat?

            ---------Approve---------   --------Disapprove-------     No
            NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Strongly   Somewhat    opin.
6/9/02      77       41         36      20       11          9         3
5/19/02     76       48         28      22       13          8         3
4/21/02     78       47         31      20       10          9         2
3/28/02     79       49         30      18       10          8         3
3/10/02     82       52         30      16        7          9         2
1/27/02     83       56         27      14        7          7         3
12/19/01    86       64         22      12        6          6         2
11/27/01    89       69         21       9        5          4         1
11/6/01     89       65         24       9        4          5         2
10/9/01     92       76         16       6        3          3         1
9/27/01     90       70         20       6        3          3         4
9/13/01     86       63         23      12        6          5         2
9/9/01      55       26         29      41       22         20         3
8/12/01     61       28         33      31       17         14         8
7/30/01     59       28         30      38       22         17         3
6/3/01      55       27         28      40       22         18         6
4/22/01     63       33         30      32       16         16         5
3/25/01     58       NA         NA      33       NA         NA         8
2/25/01     55       NA         NA      23       NA         NA        22

2. Do you approve or disapprove of Bush's proposal to create a new federal agency called the Department of Homeland Security? Do you approve/disapprove strongly or somewhat?

            ---------Approve---------   --------Disapprove-------     No
            NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Strongly   Somewhat    opin.
6/9/02      69       44         25      19       10          9        12

3. How much confidence do you have in the ability of the U.S. government to prevent further terrorist attacks against Americans in this country: a great deal, a good amount, only a fair amount or none at all?

            --------Confident--------    -----Not confident----     No
            NET   Grt.deal   Good amt.   NET   Fair amt.   None    opin.    
6/9/02      44       14         30       55       44        11       *       
5/19/02     46       17         29       52       42        10       2       
3/10/02     55       18         38       44       39         5       *       
1/27/02     57       18         40       42       37         6       1       
11/27/01    63       24         39       36       32         5       1       
11/6/01     52       17         35       47       40         7       1       
9/11/01     66       35         31       32       30         2       1       
6/2/97      35       10         26       62       52        10       3       
8/5/96      35       12         23       65       49        16       *       
5/14/95     36       12         24       63       51        12       1       
4/20/95     37       13         24       62       51        11       1       
6/28/93     59       22         37       41       32         8       1       
4/3/89      46       16         30       54       38        16       *

4. Do you think a new Department of Homeland Security would or would not improve the government's ability to prevent further terrorist attacks? (IF WOULD IMPROVE) Do you think it would help a great deal, or somewhat?

            ------------Improve------------     Would not      No 
           NET     Great deal     Somewhat      improve      opin.
6/9/02     74          29            45            21          5

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
           NET    Excel.   Good       NET   Not good    Poor     opin.
6/9/02     27       2       25        71       34        38        2

6. 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
           NET    Excel.   Good       NET   Not good    Poor     opin.
6/9/02     67       11      56        28       20         8        5

7. 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      Information      No
           information      too vague      opin.
6/9/02          42              53           5

8. In the past, FBI agents have been allowed to monitor public places like libraries, places of worship and Internet chat rooms only as part of the investigation of a specific crime. Would you support or oppose giving FBI agents broader authority to monitor public places as part of a general investigation of terrorism, even if it's not related to a specific crime?

           Support     Oppose     No opin. 
6/9/02        64         32           3

9. Whether you support it or not, do you think this change in FBI policy intrudes on the privacy rights of individuals, or not? (IF YES) Do you think this intrudes on privacy a great deal or somewhat?

           ------------Intrudes-----------     Does not      No
           NET     Great deal     Somewhat     intrude      opin.
6/9/02     62          18            44           36          3

10. What do you think is more important right now - for the FBI to investigate possible terrorist threats, even if that intrudes on personal privacy; or for the FBI not to intrude on personal privacy, even if that limits its ability to investigate possible terrorist threats?

           Investigate     Respect      No
             threats       privacy     opin. 
6/9/02          79            18         3