Washington, Jan 12 (IANS) Most Americans remain confident that President Barack Obama’s administration can protect the country from terrorism despite the Christmas Day attempt to blow up a US airliner, according to a new national poll.
The vast majority of Americans also believe that full-body scanners should be used in airports across the country, a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday indicated.
Nearly two-thirds of people questioned in the poll say they have a moderate or great deal of confidence in the administration to protect the public from future terrorist attacks, up 2 points from August. Thirty-five percent say they have not much or no confidence at all, down 1 point from August.
A number of Republicans have criticised Obama over his handling of the attempted bombing of Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit. But according to the survey, 57 percent approve of the way Obama’s responded, with 39 percent disapproving of how he handled the situation.
The poll also indicates no increase in overall concerns about terrorism. In October, about a third said they were worried that a family member would become a victim of terrorism, and that number is unchanged in the wake of the attempted attack in December.
The poll indicates that a majority of the public, 57 percent, think suspect Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, should be tried in military court and not the civilian criminal courts that are currently handling this case. Forty-two percent back handling this case in civilian court.
According to the survey, Americans are also split on whether heads should roll because as a result of the attempted bombing of the airliner. Forty-six percent of people questioned feel that top officials in the federal agencies responsible for handling the issue of terrorism should be fired, with 51 percent saying no.
The poll indicates that nearly eight in 10 believe that full-body scanners should be used in US airports, and only 15 percent say they would refuse to go through one of the new machines at an airport, if asked to do so.
“Most Americans don’t see full-body scanners as a health risk, and more than seven in 10 say they would be unconcerned if asked to go through one at an airport. Women in particular seem to prefer the idea of a full-body scanner to being frisked by a security guard, even when the question makes clear that the guard doing the manual pat-down would also be a woman.”
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted Friday through Sunday, with 1,021 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
