Wednesday, November 28, 2001

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll is based on telephone interviews with 759 randomly selected adults nationwide and was conducted Nov. 27, 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.
11/27/01    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 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.
11/27/01    91       79         13       7        4          3         2
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?"

3. Would you support or oppose U.S. military action against other countries that assist or shelter terrorists?

            Support     Oppose     No opin.
11/27/01      81          15          4
10/9/01       87          10          2
9/11/01*      84          11          5

* "Apart from those responsible for today's attacks, would you support or oppose . . ."

4. Would you favor or oppose having U.S. forces take military action against Iraq to force Saddam Hussein from power?

             Favor     Oppose     No opin.  
11/27/01       78        17           6
10/11/94*      72        23           5
1/15/93**      82        15           3 
8/21/92 RV     65        30           5 
2/9/92         62        35           3
4/22/91        51        43           6
4/5/91         54        37           9
3/15/91        57        38           5

* 10/11/94 and previous: Gallup
** 1/15/93 and previous: Would you support or oppose having U.S. forces resume military action...?

5. 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. 
11/27/01    93        42        51        5         3         2         2
11/6/01     85        23        62       12         8         4         3

6. Do you think it's worth risking a large number of U.S. military casualties in order to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, or not?

             Yes     No     No opin. 
11/27/01      60     34         6

7. How likely do you think it is that there will be a large number of U.S. military casualties in Afghanistan - very likely, somewhat likely, somewhat unlikely or very unlikely?

            ---------Likely---------     --------Unlikely--------      No
            NET     Very    Somewhat     NET     Somewhat    Very     opin. 
11/27/01    51       14        37        46         32        14        2

8. When it comes to (ITEM) do you think the United States should take the leading role, a large role but not the lead, a lesser role or no role at all

11/27/01
                                     Lead     Large    Lesser     No      No 
                                     role     role      role     role    opin. 
a. Establishing a new 
   government in Afghanistan          22       42        22       11       2 

b. Providing food and economic
   aid to Afghanistan                 32       38        20        9       1

c. Sending peacekeeping forces 
   to Afghanistan                     32       40        18        7       3

d. Taking military action against      
   terrorist groups that try to 
   re-establish themselves in 
   Afghanistan                        55       33         8        3       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.    
11/27/01   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      *

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.
11/27/01         62            36          1
11/6/01          56            43          2
10/15/01         68            29          3
10/9/01          71            27          2

11. As it conducts the war on terrorism, do you think the United States government is doing enough to protect the rights of (READ ITEM), or not?

11/27/01
                                           Yes     No     No opin. 

a. Average Americans                        81     16        2

b. Arab-Americans and American Muslims      73     19        8

c. Non-citizens from Arab and Muslim 
   countries who are living in the US       69     22        9

d. People who've been investigated for 
   suspected involvement in terrorism       71     21        8

12. As part of its terrorism investigation, the federal government says it wants to interview about 5,000 young men from the Middle East who are in the United States on temporary visas. The government says the men are not suspects and the interviews are voluntary. Others say this approach singles out these men unfairly on the basis of their national origin. What's your opinion - do you support or oppose the plan to interview these 5,000 men?

             Support     Oppose     No opin. 
11/27/01       79          19           2

13a. SPLIT SAMPLE VERSION A: Do you think non-U.S. citizens who are charged with terrorism should be put on trial (in the regular U.S. criminal court system) or (in a special military tribunal)?

             US criminal      Military      No
             court system     tribunal     opin.  
11/27/01          37             59          4

13b. SPLIT SAMPLE VERSION B: It's been proposed that non-U.S. citizens who are charged with terrorism should be put on trial in a special military tribunal, where trials can be closed to the public, with a military judge and jury, and there's no right to an appeal.

Some people (say this would protect ongoing investigations and avoid the use of civilian jurors who may fear for their lives.) Others (say it would be wrong to let the military conduct closed trials under new rules, and to single out non-citizens this way.)

Do you think non-U.S. citizens who are charged with terrorism should be put on trial (in the regular U.S. criminal court system) or (in a special military tribunal)?

             US criminal      Military      No
             court system     tribunal     opin.  
11/27/01          38             58          4

14. George W. Bush favors the use of special military tribunals. Knowing Bush's position, what do you think - should non-U.S. citizens who are charged with terrorism be put on trial (in the regular U.S. criminal court system) or (in a special military tribunal)?

             US criminal      Military      No
             court system     tribunal     opin.  
11/27/01          34             64          3

15. Do you think it should be legal or illegal for the federal government to wiretap conversations between people who are being held on terrorism charges and their lawyers?

             Legal     Illegal     No opin.
11/27/01       73        24            3

16. The U.S. government is detaining about 600 people in its investigation of the September 11th attacks, most of them for overstaying their visas or otherwise violating immigration laws. Do you think the United States is or is not justified in detaining these people?

             Yes     No     No opin. 
11/27/01      86     12         2