September 05, 2010
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Zogby Interactive: Terror Defines the Decade
September 11th attacks most significant story of the decade; Rise in terrorism decade's most significant issue
Utica, NY—According to a new Zogby Interactive poll, Americans have evaluated the last decade (to-date) and the results can be found in one word: Terror. When asked to pick one word/phrase to define the past decade, 21% of Americans chose "terror" followed by "decline" (15%) and then "loss of personal freedom/civil liberties" (13%). Republicans (33%) were more likely than Democrats (12%) to say "terror" defines the decade. Instead, Democrats chose "decline" (20%) and "greed" (17%) as the top words to define the decade. Conservatives also chose "terror" to define the decade while liberals chose "greed" (20%) and "decline" (19%). Only 11% of liberals chose "terror".
Similarly, the September 11th terrorist attacks characterize the past ten years for most Americans. Seventy-six percent of American adults name the September 11th terrorist attacks as the decade's most significant story, dwarfing the 5% of adults selecting Hurricane Katrina as the top story. Even smaller percentages said the Indian Ocean tsunami (2%), the elections of 2000 (4%), 2004 (less than 1%), and 2008 (4%), or the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (4% together) were the most significant story of the decade. Almost all Republicans (91%) said 9/11 was the most significant story compared to 63% of Democrats. Some Democrats voted Hurricane Katrina (10%) and not surprisingly, the 2008 Presidential Election (9%), as the most significant story of the decade. Interestingly, adults who live in large cities (70%) were a little less likely than those who live in small cities (77%), the suburbs (also 77%), or rural areas (83%) to rate the September 11th terrorist attacks as the most significant story of the decade.
The rise in general terrorism (from September 11th to attacks in London, Madrid, and Mumbai) was voted the most significant issue of the decade. Trailing terrorism was the increase in U.S. debt, with 16% selecting this as the most significant issue of the decade. Americans chose the wars in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Iraq as the third most significant issue of the decade, with 10% of Americans saying it was the most significant issue of the decade.
This interactive survey of 2,841 adults was conducted December 28-30, 2009. A sampling of Zogby International's online panel, which is representative of the adult population of the US, was invited to participate. Slight weights were added region, party, age, race, religion, gender, education to more accurately reflect the population. The margin of error is +/- 1.9 percentage points. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.
(12/30/2009)
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