Monday, October 8, 2001

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll is based on telephone interviews with 506 randomly selected adults nationwide and was conducted Sunday evening, Oct. 7. The margin of sampling error for overall results is plus or minus 4 percentage points. Sampling error is only one of many potential sources of error in this or any other public opinion poll. Results of overnight polls that attempt to measure opinions about fast-changing news events should be interpreted with extra caution. 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 the U.S. response to last month's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington?

            Approve      Disapprove     No opin.
10/7/01       93             5             3
9/20/01**     91             5             4
9/13/01*      91             7             2
**9/20/01 "last week's"
*9/13/01 "this week's"

2. Today the United States led air strikes on targets in Afghanistan, including military sites of the Taliban government and training camps of the Al Qaeda terrorist group led by Osama bin Laden. Do you support or oppose these U.S.-led air strikes on Afghanistan?

            ---------Support---------   ----------Oppose----------    No 
            NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Strongly   Somewhat    opin.
10/7/01     94       83         11       4        2          2         2
Compare to:
Do you support or oppose taking military action against the groups or 
nations responsible for the recent terrorist attacks? 
            Support     Oppose     No opin.
9/27/01       90           7          4
9/20/01       90           6          4
9/13/01*      93           5          2
9/11/01       94           3          3
*9/13/01 and previous: "If the United States can identify the groups or 
nations responsible for the recent attacks, would you support or oppose 
taking military action against them?"

3. Do you think this will be a quick military action, or do you think it's the start of a long war?

             Quick     Start of      No
            action     long war     opin.
10/7/01       12          82          6

4. Do you think the United States should have done more to find a diplomatic solution before attacking Afghanistan, or did it do enough?

            Should have      Did        No
             done more      enough     opin.
10/7/01         14            82         5

5. What do you think should be the main goal of the United States in this military action - capturing or killing Osama bin Laden and his associates, overthrowing Afghanistan's Taliban government, or both equally?

          Capture/kill    Overthrow      Both     Neither      No
            bin Laden      Taliban      (vol.)     (vol)      opin. 
10/7/01        19             6           71         2          2

6. Would you support or oppose sending a significant number of U.S. ground troops into Afghanistan to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and his associates?

            Support     Oppose     No opin.
10/7/01       80          16          4

7. Would you support or oppose sending a significant number of U.S. ground troops into Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban government?

            Support     Oppose     No opin.
10/7/01       75          21          4

8. How concerned are you about the possibility there will be more major terrorist attacks in the United States - is that something that worries you a great deal, somewhat, not too much, or not at all?

           ---------Concerned---------    -------Not concerned----     No
           NET    Grt.deal    Somewhat    NET    Not much     None     op.    
10/7/01    81        41          40       18        13          4       1
9/27/01*   83        43          39       17        12          5       *
9/11/01    87        49          38       12         7          4       1
6/13/97    62        21          41       38        24         14       *
6/2/97     63        22          41       37        28          9       *
8/5/96     74        31          43       26        18          8       *
4/20/95    78        38          40       21        16          5       1

9/27/01 and previous: "How concerned are you about the possibility there will be more major terrorist attacks in this country…"

9. What do you think creates a greater risk of further terrorism in this country -- the United States taking military action against terrorists, or the United States NOT taking military action?

            US taking         US not        No diff.      No
             action       taking action      (vol.)      opin.
10/7/01        23              65              9           3

            Does take       Does not      No diff.      No
             action       take action     (vol.)       opin.
9/20/01        15              73            8          3

10. Do you think the United States should limit its military action only to those groups or nations responsible for last month's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, or should the United States mount a broader war against terrorist groups and the nations that support them?

            Limit      Broader      No
            action       war       opin.
10/7/01       25         71          3
Compare to:
(If support military action) Do you think the United States should limit its 
military action only to those groups or nations responsible for last 
week's attacks, or should the United States mount a broader war against 
terrorist groups and the nations that support them? Do you feel that way 
strongly, or not so strongly?
            ------Limit Action-----   ------Broader War-----   Oppose    No 
            NET   Strng   Not strng   NET   Strng   Not strg   action   opin.
9/27/01     33      28        5       54      49        5        7        7
9/20/01     24      NA       NA       63      NA       NA        6        7

11. In its anti-terrorism campaign, do you think the United States IS or IS NOT doing enough to win the support of Muslim people around the world?

            Yes     No     No opin.
10/7/01      69     18        13

12. Do you support or oppose the United States providing an aid package worth 320 million dollars to deliver food and medicine to the people of Afghanistan?

            Support     Oppose     No opin.
10/7/01       77          20          3

13. (IF SUPPORT AT Q12) Do you support the United States giving humanitarian aid to the Afghan people while the Taliban government is still in power, or would it be better to wait until the Taliban is no longer in control?

            Support     Oppose     No opin.
10/7/01       71          25          3

14. Do you think today's air strikes in Afghanistan make further terrorist attacks against the United States more likely, less likely, or won't they make much difference?

             More       Less       No        No
            likely     likely     diff.     opin. 
10/7/01       55         10        32         3