How much safer do Americans feel now that Osama Bin Laden is dead? Hardly at all, according to a Newsweek and Daily Beast poll of 1,200 adults, conducted in the two days immediately prior to President Obama’s Sunday announcement and immediately after.
Bin Laden is dead. But terrorism still exists. Only 26 percent of Americans surveyed said they now feel safer.
And 67 percent said they were seriously concerned about national security.
According to this data, only 38 percent of American sentiment is that the President has made the world more safer.
This is intriguing, considering media coverage shows highly increased patriotism and many Americans running around with American Flags and cheering U.S.A chants.
And in the aftermath of Bin Laden’s death, in addition to only a small percentage feeling safer, there was only a 10 percent increase in those who now feel the country is headed in the right direction.
Overall, 30 percent think the country is on the right track, and 27 percent think the economy is on the right track.
And the sentiment of this poll is not limited, there is growth in American security concerns across the board:
Supporting these findings is a recent Unisys Security Index, a bi-annual global study. It showed that American’s national security concerns increased.
According to the Unisys Corporation’s new research, “Americans are significantly more concerned about nearly all aspects of their security compared to six months ago.”
More than 1,000 Americans were surveyed to gauge consumer opinion on four areas of security: financial, national, Internet and personal safety.
“The total U.S. Unisys Security Index score jumped more than 20 percent over the past six months,” according to a press release. “A level of concern that researchers marked as ‘serious.’”
Steve Vinsik, vice president of enterprise security at Unisys, explained: “The increase is due largely to higher concerns related to the war or terrorism. Sixty-seven percent (of those) surveyed were seriously concerned about national security.”
More results from the poll:
COUNTRY HEADING IN THE RIGHT OR WRONG DIRECTION?
BEFORE: Right, 20%, Wrong, 65%
AFTER: Right, 30%, Wrong 55%
ECONOMY HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?
BEFORE: Right, 31%, Wrong, 56%
AFTER: Right, 27%, Wrong 60%
HAS OBAMA DONE HIS JOB WELL ENOUGH TO DESERVE RE-ELECTION?
BEFORE: Yes, 40%, No, 48%
AFTER: 39%, No, 49%
In the wake of the capture of Osama Bin Laden…
Do you think President Obama is a strong leader overall?
STRONG 55%
WEAK 44%
Do you think President Obama is a strong leader in the war on terrorism?
STRONG 63%
WEAK 34%
Do you think President Obama has made the world more safe or less safe, or no impact?
More safe 38%
Less safe 16%
No impact 40%
Does news that U.S. forces have killed Osama bin Laden make you more favorable, to President Obama less favorable, or does it not impact your opinion?
More favorable 26%
Less favorable 3%
No impact 67%
Do you think President Obama deserves all of the credit, some of the credit, not much of the credit, or none of the credit for this operation?
All of the credit 10%
Some of the credit 59%
Not much of the
credit 13%
None of the credit 14%
Who has done a better job at prosecuting the war on terror – President Obama or President Bush?
President Obama 31%
President George W.
Bush 45%
Has news that Osama bin Laden has been killed made you more confident in President Obama’s ability to lead America, less confident in President Obama’s ability to lead America, or does it not impact your opinion?
More confident 30%
Less confident 3%
No impact 65%
Has news that Osama bin Laden has been killed made you more confident in President Obama’s foreign policy, less confident, or does it not impact your opinion?
More confident 27%
Less confident 4%
Does not impact
opinion 64%
Has news that Osama bin Laden has been killed made you feel safer, less safe, or no impact?
Safer 26%
Les safe 14%
No impact 55%
With Osama bin Laden dead, do you feel more or less support for war in Afghanistan?
More support 30%
Less support 23%
The same 38%
Now that Osama bin Laden is dead, should the U.S. continue to fight the war in Afghanistan or should we now move on and focus on problems at home?
Continue to fight 33%
Move on and focus on
problems at home 57%
Do you think that Americans have had to give up too many freedoms in the war on terror?
Yes 49%
No 47%
Has news that Osama bin Laden has been killed changed the way you will vote in the 2012 presidential election from the way you felt before Sunday night.
Yes 5%
No 92
