Thursday, September 13, 2001

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll is based on telephone interviews with 609 randomly selected adults nationwide and was conducted Thursday evening, September 13. 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 his job as president?

            ---------Approve---------   --------Disapprove--------    No 
            NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Strongly   Somewhat    opin.
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 the way Bush is handling the U.S. response to this week's terrorist attacks?

            Approve      Disapprove     No opin.
9/13/01       91             7             2

3. 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

4. If the United States can identify the groups or nations responsible for today's attacks, would you support or oppose taking military action against them?

            Support     Oppose     No opin.
9/13/01       93           5          2
9/11/01       94           3          3

4/5 NET. What if that meant getting into a war - in that case would you support or oppose taking military action?

            ------Support if war-----   -------------Oppose------------   No 
            NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Any     If war    If war   opin.
                                             Action  Strongly  Somewhat
9/13/01     86      71        15        11      5        2         4      3
9/11/01     86      NA        NA         7      4       NA        NA      4

4/6 NET. What if it meant innocent civilians in other countries might be hurt or killed - in that case would you support or oppose taking military action?

             Support, if       Oppose   No opin. 
            civilians hurt
9/13/01          77              19        4

4/7 NET. 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       Oppose   No opin. 
            troops killed
9/13/01          69              26        5

8. As you may know, a man named Osama bin Laden, who reportedly lives in Afghanistan, has been indicted for directing previous terrorist attacks and is a suspect in Tuesday's attacks. If Afghanistan does not turn bin Laden over to the United States, would you support or oppose the United States' attacking Afghanistan militarily?

            ---------Support---------   ----------Oppose---------     No 
            NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Strongly   Somewhat    opin.
9/13/01     85      72        13        11       4         7           3

9. Just your best guess, do you think the United States will go to war as a result of Tuesday's attacks, or not?

            Yes     No     No opin.
9/13/01      66     30        4

10. How confident are you in the ability of the U.S. government to find and punish the people responsible for these attacks - are you very confident, somewhat confident, not too confident, or not at all confident?

                 -------Confident-----   -------Not confident------    No
                 NET   Very   Somewhat   NET   Not too   Not at all   opin.
9/13/01          95     65       30       5       4          1         *
9/11/01          91     54       37       9       8          1         1
8/5/96 (Atlanta) 86     40       46      14      10          4         *
8/5/96 (TWA 800) 61     21       40      38      25         13         1
5/14/95 (OKC)    92     52       40       8       5          3         0
4/20/95 (OKC)    89     56       33       9       7          1         2

11. Would you support or oppose new laws that would make it easier for the FBI and other authorities to investigate people they suspect of involvement in terrorism?

            Support     Oppose     No opin.
9/13/01       92           6          2

11/12 NET. What if that meant giving up some of Americans' personal liberties and privacy---in that case would you support it or not?

             Support, if       Oppose   No opin. 
            less liberty
9/13/01          71              24        5

13. Would you support or oppose new airport security measures, even if they cause long delays in air travel?

            ---------Support---------   ----------Oppose---------     No 
            NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Strongly   Somewhat    opin.
9/13/01     98      87        11         2       1         1           *

14. Are you personally worried about traveling by commercial airplane because of the risk of terrorism, or do you think the risk is not that great?

           ---------Worried----------    Not        No      
           NET      Very     Somewhat   Worried    opin.    
9/13/01    59        25          35       40        1

15. Have you personally cancelled any specific plans to travel by air in the future because of the danger of terrorist attacks, or not?

            Yes     No     No opin.
9/13/01       9     91        0

16. (If No, Q15) Do you have any personal air travel plans that you are thinking of canceling, or not?

            Yes     No     No opin.
9/13/01       4     96        * 

17. Do you think the attacks this week will make you personally more suspicious of people who you think are of Arab descent, or not?

            Yes     No     No opin.
9/13/01      43     56        1  

21. About how often do you fly on commercial airlines: at least every few months, once or twice a year, less often than that, or have you never flown?

            At least    Once or    Less often    Never     No
           every few    twice a    than that     flown    opin.
             months      year
9/13/01       20          34           35         10        1

22. Just your best guess, do you think the economy is heading into a recession, or not?

            Yes     No     No opin.  
9/13/01     58      37        5
9/9/01      53      44        4
7/30/01     52      46        2
4/22/01     45      50        5
3/25/01     58      37        5
1/15/01     55      42        3