Bush did what he could before 9/11, most say

The Indianapolis Star ^ | May 17. 2002 | Danielle Zielinski

[harry palmer]

As controversy swirls in Washington over how much the Bush administration knew prior to the Sept. 11 attacks, those surveyed in Indianapolis today tended to support the president but were less confident in national law enforcement agencies.

People generally thought the Bush administration had no way of knowing that planes would be hijacked and used as missiles against the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

[Prodigal Son]

Once again, the average American proves to be smarter than the average democratic politician.

[DrDeb]

Excellent post! As usual, we Midwesterners can be counted on to common sensically analyze the political maneuverings of both the Democrats and the press!

[Amerigomag]

most say

In this case most includes all Americans except elected Democrats in the US Congress responsible for Democratic campaigning for the 2002 election.

[deport]

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War On Terrorism
All data are from nationwide surveys of Americans 18 & older.

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Polls listed chronologically.

.

.

CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll. May 16, 2002. N=598 adults nationwide. MoE ± 4.
						.

"First, how much confidence do you have in the Bush Administration to protect its citizens from future terrorist attacks: a great deal, fair amount, not very much, or none at all?"
		Great Deal	Fair Amount	Not Very Much	None At All	No Opinion
		%	%	%	%	%
	5/16/02	38	37	16	7	2
						.
"Overall, how much do you blame each of the following for the September 11th terrorist attacks: a great deal, a moderate amount, only a little, or not at all? How about [see below]?"
		Great Deal	Moderate Amount	Only a Little	Not At All	No Opinion
		%	%	%	%	%
	The Bush Administration
		7	22	26	43	2
						.
	The Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI
		16	29	24	27	4
						.
	The Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA
		19	30	27	18	6
						.
"As you may know, the Bush Administration said today that it was aware before September 11th that Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization had plans to hijack U.S. airplanes. However, the Administration was not aware that the airplanes would be used to blow up buildings, and they were not aware of a specific date or location of attack. Has this made you feel less favorably toward President Bush, or has it not affected your opinion of him?"
		Less Favorably	Not Affected Opinion	More Favorably (vol.)	No Opinion
		%	%	%	%
	5/16/02	32	66	1	1
						.
"Do you think the Bush Administration did or did not act on the information available to them in a proper way?"
		Did	Did Not	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	5/16/02	41	52	7
						.
"Do you think the Bush Administration did or did not give airlines as much warning about hijacking threats as was possible?"
		Did	Did Not	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	5/16/02	29	58	13
						.
"Do you think the Bush Administration should or should not have discussed the fact before now that it had this information prior to September 11th?"
		Should	Should Not	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	5/16/02	68	29	3
						.
"Which comes closer to your view: no one could have predicted the attacks of September 11th, or the government should have been able to predict the attacks of September 11th given the information available to it?"
				%
	No one could have predicted			58
	Should have been able to predict			38
	No opinion			4
						.
"Finally, do you think there should or should not be a congressional investigation into the fact that the Bush Administration did not release this information sooner?"
		Should	Should Not	No Opinion
		%	%	%
	5/16/02	43	55	2
pollingreport.com

[PhiKapMom]

Thanks for the ping! Looks like a lot is going to come out and point right at the clintons! And seems to me that the FBI Director was a clinton appointee also! I hope this bites the clintons, DNC, DemocRAT elected officials, and press! Everytime I think they cannot get any lower they do!

[Dan Rather reporting]

Yes, Mr Daschle, I agree, it is backfiring. What else have you got, sir?"

[Miss Marple]

Confusing answers in some of that survey.

I am wondering why Gallup is asking the questions in suh a way. (What am I saying? LOL!)

[McGavin999]

WOW, if these numbers are like this from yesterday, just imagine what they're going to be like in a couple of days. Especially as it comes out that these things were known for years and nothing was done. Bush had been in office less than 9 months and the FBI director had only been in place for a couple of weeks.

[deport]

What are you saying......? I give up...... LOL

I think it shows that that the populace isn't buying the spin as of yet.... They may if it is continued without some strong refutation.....

29% blame the Administration good/moderate amount
32% have a less favorable view

So it's impacted the populace by about 30% but if it stays in this range that's not overwhelming, IMO. That maybe why some of the rats are backtracking somewhat.

1999 Study Said Hijack-Suicides Possible .. adding a link

[He Rides A White Horse]

"First, how much confidence do you have in the Bush Administration to protect its citizens from future terrorist attacks: a great deal, fair amount, not very much, or none at all?"

Combining the results for categories 'a great deal' and 'fair amount' yields 75% of respondents.

Combining the results for 'not very much', and 'not at all' yields 23%.

All in all, a pretty good result for the President. Three out of four people expressed confidence, not the more negatively defined categories.

[alnick]

Bush had been in office less than 9 months and the FBI director had only been in place for a couple of weeks.

And for much of that 9 months GWB was working on a plan to take down Al Qaeda.

[Lady In Blue]

Thanks very much for this very encouraging post! I feel better now.

[Lady In Blue]

Thanks very much,deport for the post.I've been looking around for this poll and couldn't find it until now.