One America

Legacy blog posts Polls in the News

Not quite two weeks ago, I discussed what public opinion polls had to say about how Americans reacted to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.   In a widely reported speech, Bush advisor Karl Rove had said:

Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war. Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.

My original post looked at polls done at the time that tabulated their results by party identification.  I asked several public pollsters if they might provide cross-tabulations by self-reported ideology, and the pollsters at CBS News quickly obliged.  Gallup released similar results a few days later.

A sad irony:  Last night, I received an email from Susan Pinkus, the director of the LA Times Poll.  She had been on vacation when my first post ran and was just catching up, and she emailed their results tabulated by ideology.  In a poll conducted just days after the attacks (9/13 to 9/14) they showed roughly the same numbers of liberals (69%) and conservatives (72%) agreeing that “the United States is now in a state of war (the sampling error for those subgroups was at least 4%).    In a question that forced a choice eerily similar to the rhetorical contrast offered by Rove, 68% of liberals wanted to “retaliate against bin Laden’s group through military action,” while 29% preferred that the “United States pursue justice by bringing him to trial in the United States?”  Conservatives preferred war over a trial by a 72% to 22% margin.

In her email, Pinkus remarked that the in the aftermath of 9/11, “We were one America.”  Yes, at the time, some liberals fit Rove’s stereotype, but the overwhelming majority did not.  Following 9/11, liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans were in far more agreement about the use of military force in response to terrorism and threats abroad than they are today.

Last night, 9/11 seemed remote.  Not so this morning.  As we were one America four years ago, MP hopes we feel a similar solidarity with the citizens of Great Britain today. I trust few will object if I go “off topic” for a moment, but it seems appropriate to quote the words of Indian blogger Amit Varma (hat tip: Instapundit):

This isn’t just an attack on the UK, but, like the attacks of 9/11, they’re an attack on a way of life and a value-system, one that is dear not just to Western countries, but to millions in the developing world, like me. Concepts like personal freedom, equality of women and, in fact, human rights are alien to those behind the attack, and they must be defeated.

[typos corrected]

Mark Blumenthal

Mark Blumenthal is political pollster with deep and varied experience across survey research, campaigns, and media. The original "Mystery Pollster" and co-creator of Pollster.com, he explains complex concepts to a multitude of audiences and how data informs politics and decision-making. A researcher and consultant who crafts effective questions and identifies innovative solutions to deliver results. An award winning political journalist who brings insights and crafts compelling narratives from chaotic data.