9/11 opinion polls
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Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, doubts have been raised about the mainstream account of events. There have been a number of 9/11 conspiracy theories suggesting that members of the US Government may have deliberately covered-up and falsified events, in order to hide negligence or even complicity.
A number of 9/11 opinion polls have been carried out to try and establish roughly how many people do or do not believe the mainstream media account.
The size, form and quality of polls naturally varies considerably, as does the range and specificity of questions asked. They range from large, formal polls such as those conducted by Zogby, to smaller, informal polls of limited scope, and unscientific internet polls. This article presents some of the polls which have been reported in the mainstream news media. The questions here relate specifically to doubts about the mainstream account, and in all cases were part of a group of questions dealing with wider issues, usually of a political nature.
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[edit] Zogby polls
The polls that have received the most widespread media attention are those conducted by Zogby International. The Zogby polls have been sponsored by organisations within the 9/11 Truth Movement including 911truth.org.
The first one was conducted in August 2004, on the eve of a Republican National Convention, on 808 randomly-selected residents of New York State. It found that 49 percent of New York City residents and 41 percent of New York state citizens believe individuals within the US government "knew in advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act".[1] The margin of error for this poll was 3.5 percent.
The second major Zogby poll on 9/11 was conducted in May 2006. It was a telephone interview of 1,200 randomly-selected adults from across the United States, consisting of 81 questions, with a 2.9 percent margin of error.[2] Some of the questions asked include the following:
- "Some people believe that the US government and its 9/11 Commission concealed or refused to investigate critical evidence that contradicts their official explanation of the September 11th attacks, saying there has been a cover-up. Others say that the 9/11 Commission was a bi-partisan group of honest and well-respected people and that there is no reason they would want to cover-up anything. Who are you more likely to agree with?"
- Responses: 48% No Cover-up / 42% Cover-up / 10% Not sure
- "World Trade Center Building 7 is the 47-story skyscraper that was not hit by any planes during the September 11th attacks, but still totally collapsed later the same day. This collapse was not investigated by the 9/11 Commission. Are you aware of this skyscraper's collapse, and if so do you believe that the Commission should have also investigated it? Or do you believe that the Commission was right to only investigate the collapse of the buildings which were directly hit by airplanes?"
- Responses: 43% Not Aware / 38% Aware - should have investigated it / 14% Aware - right not to investigate it / 5% Not Sure
- "Some people say that so many unanswered questions about 9/11 remain that Congress or an International Tribunal should re-investigate the attacks, including whether any US government officials consciously allowed or helped facilitate their success. Other people say the 9/11 attacks were thoroughly investigated and that any speculation about US government involvement is nonsense. Who are you more likely to agree with?"
- Responses: 47% Attacks were thoroughly investigated / 45% Reinvestigate the attacks / 8% Not Sure
The third major Zogby poll regarding 9/11 was conducted in August of 2007. It was a telephone interview with a target of 1,000 interviews with randomly-selected adults from across the United States, consisting of 71 questions, with a 3.1 percent margin of error.[3]
The results of the 2007 August poll indicate that 51% of Americans want Congress to probe Bush/Cheney regarding the 9/11 attacks and over 30% of those polled seek immediate impeachment. While only 32% seek immediate Bush and/or Cheney impeachment based on their personal knowledge, many citizens appear eager for clear exposure of the facts.
In addition, the poll also found that two-thirds (67%) of Americans say the 9/11 Commission should have investigated the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7. Only 5 percent of the respondents agreed that members of the United States government "actively planned or assisted some aspects of the attack."
[edit] Newsweek Magazine polls
The Newsweek Magazine poll "What America Knows", conducted Princeton Survey Research Associates International, regularly asks American citizens a wide range of questions relating to world events past and present and a number of more trivial questions of general knowledge.[4] On five occasions the following question has been asked:
- "Do you think Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq was directly involved in planning, financing, or carrying out the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001?"
- September 2003 responses: 47% Yes, 37% No, 16% not sure.
- January 2004 responses: 49% Yes, 39% No, 12% not sure.
- September 2004 responses: 42% Yes, 44% No, 14% not sure.
- October 2004 responses: 36% Yes, 51% No, 13% not sure.
- June 2007 responses: 41% Yes, 50% No, 9% not sure.
[edit] New York Times / CBS News polls
The first 9/11 poll carried out by the New York Times and CBS News was conducted in May 2002. The same 9/11 related question was asked again in April 2004 and October 2006. The 2002 and 2006 polls were apparently published for the first time not by CBS or the NYTimes, but by polling researcher AngusReid.com The 2004 NY/Times CBS poll is available at NYTimes.com (Question 77).
The 2004 poll was conducted by telephone with 1024 adults nationwide in the US, with a 3% margin of error.[5] The 2006 poll was conducted by telephone on 983 randomly-selected citizens of the United States, with a 4% margin of error.[6] One of the questions was the following:
- "When it comes to what they knew prior to September 11th, 2001, about possible terrorist attacks against the United States, do you think members of the Bush Administration are telling the truth, are mostly telling the truth but hiding something, or are they mostly lying?"
- May 2002 responses: 21% said telling the truth, 65% said they are hiding something, 8% said they are mostly lying, 6% not sure.
- 3/30-4/1/04 CBS 24% said telling the truth, 58% said they are hiding something, 14% said they are mostly lying, 4% not sure.
- 4/8/04 CBS 21% said telling the truth, 66% said they are hiding something, 10% said they are mostly lying, 4% not sure.
- 4/23-27/04 24% said telling the truth, 56% said they are hiding something, 16% said they are mostly lying, 4% not sure.
- Oct 2006 responses: 16% said telling the truth, 53% said they are hiding something, 28% said they are mostly lying, 3% not sure.
New York Times / CBS News have conducted a number of polls on the Iraq War that have included the question:
- "Was Saddam personally involved in 9/11?"[7]
- April 2003 responses: 53% said Yes, 38% said No.
- October 2005 responses: 33% said Yes, 55% said No.
- September 2006 responses: 31% said Yes, 57% said No.
- September 2007 responses: 33% said Yes, 58% said No.
[edit] Scripps Howard polls
A poll from July 2006, sponsored by Scripps Howard and conducted by Ohio University, surveyed 1,010 randomly-selected citizens of the United States, with a margin of error of 4 percent.[8] It made some statements relating to some of the 9/11 conspiracy theories and asked respondents to say whether they thought that the statements were likely to be true.
- "Federal officials either participated in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon or took no action to stop them".
- 59% "not likely"
- 20% "somewhat likely"
- 16% "very likely"[9]
- "The collapse of the twin towers in New York was aided by explosives secretly planted in the two buildings".
- 77% "unlikely"
- 10% "somewhat likely"
- 6% "very likely"[10]
- "The Pentagon was struck by a military cruise missile in 2001 rather than by an airliner captured by terrorists".
-
- 80% "not likely"
- 6% "somewhat likely"
- 6% "very likely"[11]
The organization in November 2007 surveying 811 Americans about their beliefs in several conspiracy theories asked this question[12]
- How about that some people in the federal government had specific warnings of the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, but chose to ignore those warnings. Is this very likely, somewhat likely or unlikely?
- 32% "Very Likely"
- 30% "Somewhat Likely
- 30% "Unlikely"
- 8% "Don't Know/Other"
[edit] Other polls
A poll reported in the Washington Post in September 2003 found that nearly 70 percent of respondents believed Saddam Hussein was probably personally involved in the attacks.[13]
In September 2006 an Ipsos-Reid poll found that 22 percent of Canadians believe "the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, had nothing to do with Osama bin Laden and were actually a plot by influential Americans."[14]
In May 2007 the New York Post published results of a Pew Research Center poll of more than 1,0000 American Muslims. It found that 40 percent agreed that "Arabs carried out the 9/11 attacks," while 28 percent disagreed. Of the 28 percent that disagreed, a quarter (7 percent) believe that the US government is responsible.[15]
A poll conducted by CNN-IBN in August 2007 found that only 2 out of 5 of those polled in India, and only 1 in 20 in Pakistan, believe that al-Qaeda is responsible for the 9/11 attacks.[16]
[edit] References
- ^ Half of New Yorkers Believe US Leaders Had Foreknowledge of Impending 9-11 Attacks and “Consciously Failed” To Act; 66% Call For New Probe of Unanswered Questions by Congress or New York’s Attorney General, New Zogby International Poll Reveals. Zogby (2004).
- ^ A word about our poll of American thinking toward the 9/11 terrorist attacks (May 24, 2006).
- ^ Zogby International
- ^ NEWSWEEK Poll Conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International June 23, 2007
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/politics/20040429_poll/20040429_poll_results.pdf}
- ^ http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/13469}
- ^ [1]
- ^ Third of Americans suspect 9-11 government conspiracy. Scripps News (2006).
- ^ newsPolls.org: Question/VAR 27
- ^ newsPolls.org: Question/VAR 29
- ^ newsPolls.org: Question/VAR 28
- ^ Selected results from a Scripps poll about conspiracies Scripps Howard News Service November 23, 2007
- ^ Bush: No Saddam Links To 9/11 CBS News
- ^ One in 5 Canadians sees 9/11 as U.S. plot: poll. Reuters (September 11, 2006).
- ^ Time Bombs in our Midst New York Post May 23, 2007
- ^ World Public Opinion
