About half of all Americans feel no more safe and secure from terrorism today than they felt immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, according to a national poll by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.
The survey's results also suggested that public confidence in key institutions, which had surged immediately after the terrorist attacks, may be ebbing.
The poll tracked the changes in attitudes of 613 randomly selected adult Americans who were first interviewed in a survey conducted by ISR right after the attacks.
Nearly four in 10 -- 37 percent -- said in both surveys that the incidents had "shaken" their sense of safety and security "a great deal" or "a good amount." About one in 10 -- 11 percent -- said they were feeling even less secure now than immediately after Sept. 11. Thirteen percent were feeling more secure. The remainder said in both surveys that their feelings of personal safety were unaffected.
"The attacks were a sharp jolt, and many people aren't feeling better," said political scientist Michael Traugott, a senior research scientist at ISR who directed the studies.
One key finding: The more closely individuals said they followed the news, the more insecure they felt, suggesting that government efforts to warn people of potential attacks may be sustaining public unease, Traugott said.
The second survey also found that 42 percent of Americans had become more concerned than they were last fall that they might be injured in a terrorist assault. An even larger proportion -- 80 percent -- expressed concern that other Americans might get hurt, the survey said.
An overwhelming majority -- 84 percent -- also considered it at least somewhat likely that terrorist attacks or similar acts of violence would occur in the United States "in the near future." One in four expected that such attacks would happen in their community.
Researchers also measured how specific behaviors were affected by Sept. 11. "Among those who ordinarily engaged in the particular activity, 69 percent said they were more concerned about their safety when taking an airplane trip, while about 37 percent reported heightened safety concerns while attending a sporting event, and 22 percent said they had become more concerned about their safety when going to a shopping mall," Traugott said.
These fears have consequences, Traugott found. Seven in 10 Americans said they were willing to give up at least some of their civil liberties to improve security -- and "the number goes up to the eighties among those who said they were concerned about their personal safety," he said. Last fall's survey found virtually identical levels of willingness to surrender civil liberties, he added.
According to the lastest poll, nine in 10 Americans favored having more police assigned to patrol public places and additional powers to permit the military to work with local police to conduct anti-terrorist activities.
Seven in 10 supported a law requiring all adults to carry a national identification card that would include their photograph and Social Security number. About half said they supported random police searches in public places, while fewer than half favored allowing wiretaps of conversations between terrorist suspects and their attorneys. One in four -- 24 percent -- supported giving police the power to conduct random searches of "anyone who appears to be Arab or Muslim."
The survey also suggests that the public's confidence in major institutions, which surged after Sept. 11, is on the way down. Although questions measuring confidence in institutions were not asked in the first round of polling, Traugott compared the results of the second wave with the findings of other surveys that included confidence measures.
About seven in 10 -- 73 percent -- reported that they had "a great deal" of confidence in the military. But only 16 percent expressed similarly high levels of confidence in Congress, 30 percent in the executive branch, 34 percent in organized religion and 11 percent in major companies. The survey did not measure overall trust in the federal government or confidence in President Bush, both of which rose after Sept. 11.
"In times of crisis, a 'rally round the flag' phenomenon affects attitudes toward institutions, just as it affects presidential approval ratings," Traugott said. "But these findings suggest that this positive attitude is beginning to wear off."