NY1/Newsday Poll: Two-Thirds Of New Yorkers Say Terror Threat Will Increase In Event Of War
MARCH 06TH, 2003
Two-thirds of New Yorkers say the threat of terrorism in the city will rise if the United States take military action against Iraq. The findings are part of an exclusive NY1/Newsday poll. NY1's Andrew Siff filed this report.
More than 4 in 10 city residents are flat-out opposed to the war, and fewer than 1 in 5 New Yorkers think the U.S. should fight Iraq without United Nations support. Those findings are from our exclusive survey of 501 adults in the five boroughs.
"New Yorkers are definitely not in a hurry to take action, and there's a much larger faction that's just plain anti-war, and that's bigger in the city than we see elsewhere," said pollster Mickey Blum.
When asked if they favor military action against Iraq in order to remove Saddam Hussein from power, 32 percent said only with the approval of the U.N. security Council, 19 percent said even without U.N. approval, and 42 percent said they oppose U.S. military action in Iraq all together.
"There are alternatives, and peace is possible," said one New Yorker.
By race, the anti-war split is much more striking. Only 26 percent of whites outright oppose U.S. military action, while 62 percent of blacks and 51 percent of Latinos said they opposed a war.
"I'm really questioning what our motives are," said one man. "Are we really motivated by stopping Saddam Hussein, or are we motivated by oil?"
"There is a much greater anti-war feeling among blacks and Latinos, and previous polls have shown us blacks and Latinos are more likely to know someone who is being called up or has been called up to fight this war," said Blum.
The racial divide shrinks when it comes to assessing the risk of terrorism. A solid majority of New Yorkers saying the risk of an attack here goes up if the U.S. attacks Iraq.
"It's going to be more likely that we would be victimized by terrorists if we go to war," said one city resident.
Nearly 67 percent of New Yorkers said the threat of terrorism would increase if the U.S. attacks Iraq, 27 percent said the threat would stay the same, and three percent said the threat would decrease.
"I think the likelihood of some sort of terrorist action occurring is going to be a lot more," said one man.
Sixty-two percent of whites said the threat would rise, while 72 percent of blacks and Latinos expressed that concern.
Despite the opposition to war, only nine percent of New Yorkers said they had written a letter, attended a demonstration or contributed money in opposition to military action. Seven percent said they had been active in support of military action, and 84 percent said had not participated at all.
That's a statistic that might seem surprising, since activists claim an attendance of 500,000 people at last month's anti-war rally on the east side of Manhattan.
- Andrew Siff
The telephone survey of 501 city adults was conducted by Blum and Weprin Associates from February 27 to March 2. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent.