Wednesday, November 7, 2001

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll is based on telephone interviews with 756 randomly selected adults nationwide and was conducted Nov. 5 - 6, 2001. 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 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 his job as president? Do you approve/disapprove STRONGLY or SOMEWHAT?

            ---------Approve---------   --------Disapprove--------    No 
            NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Strongly   Somewhat    opin.
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

14. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Bush is handling the nation's economy?

            Approve   Disapprove   No opinion
11/6/01       72          23             5
9/9/01        48          48             4
7/30/01       52          45             3
6/3/01        53          41             6
4/22/01       55          38             7
3/25/01       50          42             8

2. Do you support or oppose the U.S. military action in Afghanistan?
 Do you support/oppose this STRONGLY or SOMEWHAT?

            ---------Support---------   ----------Oppose----------    No 
            NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Strongly   Somewhat    opin.
11/6/01     90       75         15       9        3          6         1
10/9/01*    92       76         16       6        4          2         1
10/7/01     94       83         11       4        2          2         2

*10/9/01 and previous: ". . . the U.S.-led air strikes on Afghanistan that began this week?"

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 the U.S. military action in Afghanistan is going very well, fairly well, not too well or not well at all?

            ----------Well----------     --------Not well--------      No
            NET      Very     Fairly     NET     Not too   At all     opin. 
11/6/01     85        23        62       12         8         4         3

4. Would you support or oppose sending a significant number of U.S. ground troops into Afghanistan?

            Support     Oppose     No opin.
11/6/01       71          26          3

Compare to:

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.
10/9/01       76          21          4
10/7/01       75          21          4

5. (If support, Q4) What if it meant getting into a long war with large numbers of U.S. troops killed or injured - in that case would you support or oppose sending a significant number of U.S. ground troops into Afghanistan?

4/5 NET

            Support     Oppose     No opin. 
11/6/01       52          42          6

Compare to:

What if it meant getting into a long war with large numbers of U.S. troops killed or injured - in that case would you support or oppose taking military action against the groups or nations responsible for these attacks?

              --Support if US troops killed--                 No
              NET      Strongly      Somewhat     Oppose     opin.
9/27/01       67          45            21          26        7
9/13/01       69          NA            NA          26        5

6. How confident are you that the United States will capture or kill Osama Bin Laden: are you very confident, somewhat confident, not too confident or not at all confident?

            --------Confident--------    -------Not confident------     No   
            NET     Very     Somewhat    NET     Not too     At all    opin.    
11/6/01     73       28         45       26         17          9        1
9/27/01     81       37         44       18         14          4        1

7. Do you think (the United States has to capture or kill Osama bin Laden for the war on terrorism to be a success), or do you think (the war on terrorism can be a success without Osama bin Laden being killed or captured)?

            US must capture/      War can succeed       No 
             kill bin Laden      without bin Laden     opin. 
11/6/01            64                    30              6

8. Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the job Bush and his administration are doing in terms of giving the public reliable information on (READ ITEM). Would you say you are VERY satisfied or only SOMEWHAT?

Summary table:

11/6/01

                                    -----Satisfied-----        Dis-        No        
                                    NET    Very    Smwt     satisfied     opin.
a. The military campaign            
in Afghanistan                      84      46      39          14          1

b. The risk of further terrorism
in the United States                80      41      39          18          2

c. The anthrax situation            80      42      38          19          1

9. 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.    
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      *

10. Do you think the United States is doing all it reasonably can do to try to prevent further terrorist attacks, or do you think it should do more?

              US doing      US should      No
             all it can      do more      opin.
11/6/01          56            43          2
10/15/01         68            29          3
10/9/01          71            27          2

Compare to:

Do you think the United States government did all it reasonably could do to try to prevent these attacks, or do you think it could have done more?

               US did           US could         No
            all it could     have done more     opin.
9/13/01          31                65             4
9/11/01          43                44            13

11. Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way the federal government has been handling the anthrax situation? Would you say you are VERY satisfied/ dissatisfied or only SOMEWHAT?

             --------Satisfied--------    ------Dissatisfied------     No      
             NET     Very     Somewhat    NET     Somewhat    Very     op.    
11/6/01      80       35         44       19        13          6       1
10/24/01*    78       37         41       19        11          8       3
10/15/01     85       43         41       12         9          3       3

*10/24/01 and previous: ". . . the way government authorities have been handling. . . "

12. How concerned are you about the chance that you personally might be the victim of a terrorist attack - does that worry you a great deal, somewhat, not too much or not at all?

          --------Concerned--------    -----Not concerned----     No   
          NET   Grt.deal   Good amt.   NET   Fair amt.   None    opin.    
11/6/01    35      10         25        64      33        31       *

13. On another subject, do you think the people who handle security screening at airports should be (federal government employees), or should they be (employees of private companies that are overseen by the federal government)?

              Federal       Private      Neither      No
            government     companies      (vol.)     opin. 
11/6/01         55             36           4          5

15. Who do you trust to do a better job handling the economy - (Bush) or (the Democrats in Congress)?

                             Both     Neither    No
          Bush     Dems     (vol.)    (vol.)    opin.
11/6/01    51       36         5         4        5
9/9/01     44       50         1         3        2
7/30/01    47       46         1         4        1
6/3/01     44       46         2         6        2

16. On another subject, would you support or oppose a law requiring all adults in this country to carry a national identification card that includes information such as their photograph and Social Security number?

            Support     Oppose     No opin. 
11/6/01       66          32          2 

17. (If support, Q4) Do you feel that this would infringe on your privacy but that it's worth the tradeoff; or that it would not infringe on your privacy?

             Would       Would not     Depends     No
            infringe     infringe       (VOL)     opin.
11/6/01        36           62            1         2