| Survey of 1,500 Likely Voters April 23-25, 2004 | 50% Say U.S. Winning War on Terror Just 24% Say Terrorists Winning | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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April 26, 2004--Fifty percent (50%) of American voters
now believe that the United States and its
allies are winning the War on Terrorism. That's up slightly from 49% a
week ago and 46% during the first week of April. However, it is still well below the 54%
recorded before the recent wave of violence in Iraq. Only 24% believe the terrorists are winning. That's down six points from early April.
A related survey found that the number of Americans who believe the country is safer since 9/11 increased following the President's Press Conference. Republican voters, by a 74% to 11% margin, are confident that the U.S. is winning. Among Democrats, 32% say the U.S. is winning while 39% believe the terrorists are winning. As for those not affiliated with either party, 43% say the U.S. is winning while 19% give the edge to the terrorists. Those figures reflect only minor changes in the perceptions of Republicans compared over the past three weeks. However, Democrats and unaffiliated voters are more optimistic today than they were early in the month. These different perceptions of the War on Terror are similar to the vastly different partisan perceptions of the U.S. economy. Despite concerns about the War on Terror, 44% of American voters believe that, in the interest of co-operation, US allies should follow our lead more often. Twenty-eight percent (28%) now say that the United States should do what our allies want more often. Going back two months, a February survey found that 56% believed the U.S. and its allies were winning. At that time, 46% wanted allies to follow our lead more often. A related survey found that Americans trust George W. Bush more than John F. Kerry when it comes to leading the War on Terrorism. Another survey found a huge gender gap on the best way to deal with terrorists. A majority of men believe the most effective strategy is to let terrorists know we will fight back aggressively. A majority of women say it is best to work with other nations for an international solution. The national telephone survey of 1,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports April 23-25, 2004. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. (see Methodology) |
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