Terrorist activity has been reported around the globe by a number of nations in recent years. Particularly shocking to the world were the horrific terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, which left over 3,000 people dead in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The country’s military expedition in Afghanistan began less than a month after 9/11, and they watched in dismay as it ended abruptly and brutally more than 20 years later.
The impact of the September 11 attacks has persisted throughout time, as evidenced by the fact that most Americans who are old enough to recall the day can still clearly recall where they were and what they were doing when they learned about the attacks. However, an increasing proportion of Americans were either too young or had not been born yet to recall that day.
An analysis of American public opinion in the two decades after 9/11 shows how a country rocked by tragedy came together, if only momentarily, in a spirit of grief and patriotism; how support for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq surged but eventually waned; and how people saw the threat of domestic terrorism and the government’s response to it.
The country’s tumultuous transition from the US military’s exit from Afghanistan has raised long-term questions about US foreign policy and its place on the globe. Early public opinions on that mission, however, are clear: Despite their disapproval of the Biden administration’s handling of the situation, the majority of people favor the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. In addition, a recent Pew Research Center study shows that despite billions of dollars in military spending and thousands of deaths in Afghanistan—including over 2,000 American service members—69% of American adults think the US has fallen short of its goals in the country.
A terrible psychological cost and an enduring historical legacy
Americans suffered a great deal of emotional damage as a result of the 9/11 attacks, including shock, agony, fear, and fury. Sixty-three percent of Americans claimed they could not stop watching the news coverage of the attacks, no matter how horrible the day’s events were.
A few days after 9/11, from September 13–17, 2001, we conducted our first survey following the attacks. Seventy-one percent said they felt depressed, forty-nine percent said they had difficulties focusing, and thirty-three percent said they had trouble falling asleep.
The public’s primary news source at the time was still television (just 5% of respondents said they got their news online during the attacks, compared to 90% who said they got most of their news from television), and the graphic images of casualties and damage that were broadcast there had a big influence. Even though a sizable majority (77%) thought it was frightening to watch, nine out of ten Americans, or 92%, agreed with the statement, “Watching TV coverage of the terrorist attacks makes me feel sad.”
The attacks angered even Americans. Three weeks after the events of 9/11, psychological tension began to decrease, although 87% of respondents said they were still outraged about the assaults on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.
There was a broad feeling of terror not only in the days after the attacks but also in the fall of 2001. Most Americans said they were either very (28%) or somewhat (45%) worried about another attack. When asked a year later how the attacks had affected their lives in a meaningful way, around half of those surveyed said they felt more wary, suspicious, afraid, or vulnerable.
Major cities, particularly New York and Washington, continued to experience higher levels of fear regarding terrorism than small towns and rural regions, even after the initial shock of 9/11 had passed. The effects of the attacks were also felt more personally in the cities that were specifically targeted. Compared to 49% of adults nationwide, roughly six out of ten respondents in the New York (61%) and Washington (63%) regions stated that the attacks had affected their lives in some way over a year after 9/11. The same sentiment was shared by residents of other large cities. Two times as many Americans who lived in small towns and rural areas as those who lived in major cities indicated that their lives had been drastically changed.
The effects of the September 11 attacks took a long time to manifest. Ten years after the incident, half of American adults still believed that the nation had “changed in a major way,” up from 41% in August of the previous year.
A year after the attacks, the majority of Americans (80%) claimed that 9/11 was the most important event to occur in the country the previous year when posed an open-ended question. Remarkably, more respondents (38%) chose it as the most important thing that personally happened to them in the preceding year than those who listed more ordinary life events, such as births or deaths. Again, the attacks had a much greater personal impact in New York and Washington, where 51% and 44% of respondents, respectively, named them as the year’s most significant personal events.
When it comes to historical relevance, the 9/11 attacks are far more significant than previous events in the lives of most Americans who are old enough to remember them. In 2016 Pew Research Center research sponsored by A+E Networks’ History, conducted fifteen years after 9/11, 76% of respondents named the September 11 attacks as one of the 10 historical events of their lifetime that had the greatest impact on the country. Barack Obama’s election as the nation’s first black president came in much behind, at 40%.
9/11’s significance went beyond boundaries of age, gender, location, and even political beliefs. While there was little else that the parties agreed on during that election season, almost seven out of ten Republicans and Democrats listed the attacks as one of their top ten historical events, according to 2016 research.
Although 9/11 changed popular perceptions in the United States, many of its effects were transient.
It is difficult to think of another event that had such a profound and all-encompassing impact on American public perception as the 9/11 attacks. Even though everyone in America was in great grief at the same time after September 11, 2001, there was a unique sense of national unity during that time.
There was an upsurge in patriotic feelings after 9/11. After the United States and its allies launched airstrikes against Taliban and al-Qaida troops in early October 2001, 79% of adults reported having flown the American flag. Sixty-two percent of respondents stated that they had felt patriotic on many occasions after the 9/11 attacks a year later.
In addition, despite disagreements, the populace united to support the nation’s political establishment and key institutions. In October 2001, sixty percent of respondents reported trusting the federal government, a proportion that has not been reached nor approached in the previous twenty years.
George W. Bush, who had emerged victorious from a fiercely contested election nine months prior, witnessed a 35-percent surge in his job approval rating in just three weeks. By late September 2001, 86% of respondents were happy with Bush’s presidential performance, including nearly all Republicans (96%) and a sizable majority of Democrats (78%).
Many Americans also turned to their faith and religion. Following 9/11, the majority of Americans reported increasing their frequency of prayer. Similar to public trust in the federal government, 78% of respondents in November 2001 said religion’s influence in American life was rising, more than twice as many as those who said the same eight months earlier. This was also the highest percentage of respondents in forty years.
Public regard increased even for certain institutions that Americans typically do not find all that popular. For instance, news organizations scored exceptionally well for professionalism in November 2001. Approximately 70% of adults stated they “stand up for America,” and 60% said they defend democracy.
However, the “9/11 effect” on public opinion was not lasting. Throughout the 2000s, public confidence in other institutions, including the government, decreased. Just 31% of people said they trusted the federal government by 2005, which was half of those who said the same in the months following 9/11. This was in the wake of another major national tragedy: the government’s mishandling of the relief effort for Hurricane Katrina victims. Over the previous 20 years, trust has remained comparatively low: in April of this year, only 24% of respondents said they trusted the government most of the time or just about always.
In contrast, Bush’s popularity ratings never again attained the dizzying heights they did just after 9/11. Just 24% of people approved of his work by December 2008, when he ended his presidency (Hartig and Doherty, 2021).
9/11 Oral Histories, Navy Combat Documentation Detachment 206, Pentagon
Recording of the attacks began immediately after they occurred on September 11, 2001, with the Department of Defense and all branches of the Armed Forces following suit. Navy Combat Documentation Detachment 206 (DET 206), a reserve force, was activated by the Naval Historical Center (the institution that came before NHHC) to assist with the documentation. For the next ten months, DET 206 reservists and NHC historians conducted interviews with hundreds of individuals who were present in the Pentagon on the day of the assault or who were intimately involved in the Navy’s reaction and subsequent operations. The Navy Archives has received authorization to release a portion of the oral histories to the public for the first time since they were recorded (Naval History and Heritage Command, 2021).
American military response: Iraq and Afghanistan
With the Taliban now firmly in charge of the nation and the United States officially out of Afghanistan, the majority of Americans (69%) believe the United States failed to accomplish its objectives there.
Nonetheless, the majority of Americans supported using military force to apprehend the perpetrators of the attacks during the days and weeks that followed 9/11 twenty years ago. In mid-September 2001, a survey found that 77% of participants were in favor of employing ground forces and other military action “to retaliate against whoever is responsible for the terrorist attacks, even if that means the U.S. armed forces might suffer thousands of casualties.”
Many Americans were anxious for the Bush administration to approve military action. In a poll taken in late September 2001, over half of the public (49%) said they were more worried about the Bush administration’s inaction against the terrorists than they were about its actions moving too rapidly, compared to just 34% who expressed the same worry.
After 9/11, opinions about Islam and Muslims became increasingly politicized.
In the days following 9/11, then-President George W. Bush spoke at the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., fearing that there might be a backlash against Muslims in the country. He said, “Islam is peace.” For a short while, a significant portion of Americans concurred. Compared to 45% in March 2001, 59% of American adults held a positive opinion of Muslim Americans in November 2001. Majorities of both Democrats and Republicans held these views.
This sense of harmony and goodwill was short-lived. Less than a year later, 36% of adults in a September 2001 survey said they were now more wary of people with Middle Eastern ancestry than before.
Twenty years have passed since the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon, World Trade Center, and Flight 93, in which an even deadlier terror attack may have been averted only by the bravery of the passengers and crew.
It is a day that most people who are old enough to remember will never forget. 9/11 changed Americans’ perspectives on conflict and peace, personal safety, and fellow citizens in several ways. And today marks the beginning of an uncertain new chapter in the post-9/11 era, marked by violence and chaos in a nation halfway around the world (Hartig and Doherty, 2021).
Hartig, H. and Doherty, C. (2021). Two Decades Later, the Enduring Legacy of 9/11. [online] Pew Research Center – U.S. Politics & Policy. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/09/02/two-decades-later-the-enduring-legacy-of-9-11/ [Accessed 14 December 2023]. Naval History and Heritage Command (2021). September 11th Terrorist Attack. [online] public1.nhhcaws.local. Available at: https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/sept-11-attack.html [Accessed 15 December 2023].
