ANN ARBOR---For many Americans shaken by September 11, the emotional insecurity continues, according to a University of Michigan survey released today that is among the first to go back to the same group of people to track changes over time in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults.
About 11 percent of 613 Americans surveyed in March by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR) are more shaken now than they were last fall. About three-quarters reported no change in the extent to which the attacks have affected their personal sense of safety and security, while only 13 percent are less shaken by the terror attacks than when they were first surveyed. (Fig. 1)
"The preliminary findings from this survey suggest that the psychological, social, and political effects of last fall's events have been enduring," says U-M political scientist Michael Traugott, a senior research scientist at the ISR who directed the second wave of the How Americans Respond survey. "Despite attempts by the government to assure Americans that homeland security is a priority, most Americans don't feel any safer today than they did right after the attacks."
[...]