Despite the decrease, 86 percent of Americans approve of the current U.S. military action against terrorism and Bush has retained an 85 percent job-approval rating, according to the poll.
A 56 percent majority says the military efforts in Afghanistan are going as well as U.S. officials report, but 33 percent suspect that results are less successful than official portrayals. The number who think a large-scale ground operation will be necessary has risen only marginally, to 40 percent from 37 percent in early October, but it now virtually equals the number who think small special forces operations will suffice (41 percent).
Thirty-four percent of those polled say the special alerts that have been issued by the Justice Department and FBI advising people that a terrorist attack is imminent do more harm than good by increasing anxiety levels without providing any concrete information; 62 percent say the alerts are worthwhile because they keep people on the lookout for suspicious activity and may help or prevent future terrorist attacks, the poll shows.
The number of Americans who feel a lot less safe than they did before Sept. 11 is 11 percent, almost back to the 12 percent level registered in the days immediately after the first attacks, the poll shows. But the number who say they feel only a little less or not at all less safe is 72 percent. Among all those polled, 16 percent are a lot more worried about their economic future; 23 percent are somewhat more worried; 31 percent are only a little more worried and 29 percent are not at all more worried.
For this NEWSWEEK Poll, Princeton Survey Research Associates interviewed by telephone 1,001 adults aged 18 and older on Nov. 1 and 2. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
