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CNN Sunday Morning

What the Polls Reveal About Anthrax, Overseas Assault

Aired October 14, 2001 - 11:11   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now it's time to bring in our man with the numbers, our senior political analyst Bill Schneider joining me here in Washington. First of all, let me say, it's nice to be in your house for a change.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, welcome.

KAGAN: Up here in D.C., it's really good to be here.

Here we are, a week into the military action. The U.S. says well, how are the American people looking at this? Are they still supporting the action and so supporting President Bush?

SCHNEIDER: Well, Daryn, support is holding up very strongly. Over 90 percent or nearly 90 percent continue to support President Bush and support U.S. military action. The next step is likely to be ground troops. And that is where the American public has often drawn the line in the past.

But not now, because public support for ground troops has actually going up over the last few weeks. Policymakers worry will the public tolerate U.S. fatalities and how many? Now two-thirds of Americans say that they would support military action, even if 500 American lives were lost. And a small majority say that they would tolerate as you see here, 52 percent, say they were tolerate 1,000 losses.

But the draw the line somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 losses. Now remember, some 6,000 lives were lost on September 11, which may set the scale of operation that the public will support.

Now right now in Afghanistan, the military has three targets, Osama bin Laden, the Taliban regime, and his al Qaeda terrorist network. The American public is very clear about one point. The U.S. cannot claim victory if it does not get rid of Osama bin Laden. You can see it's almost 2 to 1 who say it will not be a victory if the United States does not get bin Laden.

This enemy has been intensely personalized. And the United States may find that it's easier to bring down an entire regime, the Taliban regime, than to eliminate one man.

KAGAN: It does have a face in Osama bin Laden.

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

KAGAN: Another difference about this situation, and you brought it up with the mention of September 11. This is personal for the American people because attacks taking place on American soil.

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

KAGAN: Are we finding that Americans are afraid of more terrorist attacks?

SCHNEIDER: They are worried, but I wouldn't say they are panicked right now. About a third of Americans say they're personally worried about terrorism whenever they go into a public place. But that number has not really grown very much over the last few weeks.

And the public is taking the anthrax stories in stride. Only 15 percent describe themselves as very concerned personally about being contaminated by anthrax. Now what do Americans make of all these stories about other people being exposed to anthrax? Well, we asked people to give us their best guess. Do they believe Osama bin Laden is behind the anthrax scare?

And on that, the public is split. They're really not sure. And in fact, you can see here, 40 percent say yes. 44, no. They're not sure. And I call that really the correct answer. Americans are not leaping to conclusions.

What I think it adds up to is this, Americans are responding to this rationally. They are not panicking, and they are listening very carefully to what the government is telling them.

KAGAN: And that is good. We want people to remain calm.

SCHNEIDER: Right.

KAGAN: Bill Schneider, good to see you.

SCHNEIDER: Good to see you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Thank you very much.

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