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CNN Live At Daybreak

American's Voice: Terror Concerns

Aired May 20, 2003 - 06:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: So, how worried are you about terrorism? And do fears of an attack outweigh your concern over the economy?
Let's find out right now from Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport.

Frank -- good morning.

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.

A lot of questions are being asked about the connection between the war on Iraq, for example, and terrorism. We know one thing: That the American public clearly had bought into the rationale that the war in Iraq was going to make the world safer for terrorism.

And I wanted to show you a little history here. This top line is the percentage of Americans who say the U.S. and allies are winning the war on terrorism. And that big increase up there, nearly 75 percent, came after the war in Afghanistan, in December, 2001 and in January, 2002.

Then that saying the U.S. was winning had gone down and down. But look at what had happened just a couple of weeks ago after the war with Iraq looked like it was won, up to 60-plus percent of Americans now said -- a big jump here -- that the U.S. and its allies were winning the war on terrorism.

The connection has been made in Americans' minds. We're now waiting to see if that's going to come tumbling back down for the second time, now that there are renewed acts of terrorism that we are seeing.

The Democrats over the weekend took some shots at President Bush about not being vigilant enough on terrorism. That has been an area of great strength. The New York Times-CBS Poll just released a few days ago showed Republicans 58, Democrats 18, when you ask the public which party that do the better job at handling terrorism. But over the weekend in Iowa it looks like some of the Democrats were sensing some vulnerability there on the part of the president. We're going to have to wait and see.

Of course, it's election season. They are looking for vulnerability -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, and it didn't seem to move those numbers very much. Let's talk about President Bush's approval rating. Where is it now?

NEWPORT: Well, it's re-election time, and we're all looking at his approval rating. And would you vote for Bush if the election was coming? Matthew Dowd, Bush's pollster, has already been putting out memos, saying all of these numbers are going to come down, so be careful to Republicans.

His approval rating has been steady, right at about 70 percent. In all of our recent polling there, you can see on the right-hand side, that's very good, of course. And in a re-election season, when we asked Americans who would you vote for, Bush or what we call the "generic Democrat," the Democratic candidate, Bush has been winning handily; most recently 49 to 35.

So, right now, it looks pretty good, but we're way ahead of the election. A lot can change -- Carol.

COSTELLO: You're right. A lot can change in a short time even. Thank you very much -- Frank Newport reporting live for us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired May 20, 2003 - 06:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: So, how worried are you about terrorism? And do fears of an attack outweigh your concern over the economy?
Let's find out right now from Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport.

Frank -- good morning.

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.

A lot of questions are being asked about the connection between the war on Iraq, for example, and terrorism. We know one thing: That the American public clearly had bought into the rationale that the war in Iraq was going to make the world safer for terrorism.

And I wanted to show you a little history here. This top line is the percentage of Americans who say the U.S. and allies are winning the war on terrorism. And that big increase up there, nearly 75 percent, came after the war in Afghanistan, in December, 2001 and in January, 2002.

Then that saying the U.S. was winning had gone down and down. But look at what had happened just a couple of weeks ago after the war with Iraq looked like it was won, up to 60-plus percent of Americans now said -- a big jump here -- that the U.S. and its allies were winning the war on terrorism.

The connection has been made in Americans' minds. We're now waiting to see if that's going to come tumbling back down for the second time, now that there are renewed acts of terrorism that we are seeing.

The Democrats over the weekend took some shots at President Bush about not being vigilant enough on terrorism. That has been an area of great strength. The New York Times-CBS Poll just released a few days ago showed Republicans 58, Democrats 18, when you ask the public which party that do the better job at handling terrorism. But over the weekend in Iowa it looks like some of the Democrats were sensing some vulnerability there on the part of the president. We're going to have to wait and see.

Of course, it's election season. They are looking for vulnerability -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, and it didn't seem to move those numbers very much. Let's talk about President Bush's approval rating. Where is it now?

NEWPORT: Well, it's re-election time, and we're all looking at his approval rating. And would you vote for Bush if the election was coming? Matthew Dowd, Bush's pollster, has already been putting out memos, saying all of these numbers are going to come down, so be careful to Republicans.

His approval rating has been steady, right at about 70 percent. In all of our recent polling there, you can see on the right-hand side, that's very good, of course. And in a re-election season, when we asked Americans who would you vote for, Bush or what we call the "generic Democrat," the Democratic candidate, Bush has been winning handily; most recently 49 to 35.

So, right now, it looks pretty good, but we're way ahead of the election. A lot can change -- Carol.

COSTELLO: You're right. A lot can change in a short time even. Thank you very much -- Frank Newport reporting live for us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.