Americans’ Attitudes Ten Years After 9/11

For the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press released its report Ten Years after 9/11: United in Remembrance, Divided Over Policies. The report’s findings, based on a survey of 1,509 Americans, revealed that while 9/11 has left a long-lasting impression, it has divided the country in its perception on the United States’ response to the attacks.

“Ten years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the events of that day retain a powerful hold on the public’s collective consciousness… Yet the public continues to be divided over many of the anti-terrorism policies that arose in the wake of Sept. 11,” wrote the authors of the report.

Among the findings, almost all Americans remember where they were or what they were doing when they learned of the terrorist attacks (97% in the survey). The survey of American adults included respondents 18 and older, which meant that some were as young as eight years old on 9/11. Only two other events in recent American history, according to the report, have had a similar effect on American recollection: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, and the attack of Pearl Harbor. By comparison, a more recent event such as the killing of Osama Bin Laden, resulted in only 81% of Americans being able to recall where they were when hearing the news.

By Benjamin Villanti*

New York, September 11, 2011