WASHINGTON, D.C. — Twenty-five years after 9/11, 64% of U.S. adults believe that Americans have permanently changed the way they live as a result of the terrorist attacks. This ties the high in Gallup’s trend, first recorded five years ago on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Before that, fewer Americans held this view, including 58% on the 10th anniversary and 53% on the fifth anniversary.
In a poll conducted on the night of the attacks, 49% predicted that Americans would permanently change the way they live.
The latest results are from an Aug. 3-24 Gallup poll, conducted in the weeks leading up to the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Nearly 3,000 Americans were killed in the attacks.
More Americans believe their fellow citizens have permanently changed the way they live than say they personally have done so. Twenty-eight percent of U.S. adults say they have permanently changed the way they live, matching what Gallup measured on the 10th and 20th anniversaries but up from 22% on the fifth anniversary.
Millennials and Gen Xers are more likely than other generations to report permanent changes to their lives, according to combined data from the 2021 and 2026 polls. Those generations of U.S. adults would have been between the ages of 5 and 36 when 9/11 occurred, ranging from children just beginning school to younger adults.
There are significant differences in responses to this question by race/ethnicity, with 51% of Hispanic adults, more than any other major subgroup, saying they have changed the way they live. That compares with 35% of Black adults and 22% of White adults.
Additionally, 40% of religious Americans, those who attend services every week, say they have altered their way of life, compared with 22% of those who seldom or never attend.
There are modest but not statistically meaningful differences by gender and party identification. People who live in urban, suburban and rural areas also do not differ, nor do Americans living in different regions of the country.
Terrorism Fears Have Eased
Thirty-seven percent of Americans say they are very or somewhat worried about being a victim of terrorism. That is unchanged from the 36% recorded on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 in 2021, but below the 45% from the fifth anniversary.
Concern was much higher than now in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. On the night of Sept. 11, 2001, 58% of Americans said they were worried about being a victim of terrorism.
Gallup first asked about concerns of being a terrorism victim more than five years before 9/11, with the first measurement coming in 1995 after the Oklahoma City bombing. In that poll, 42% were worried. Concern fell in the ensuing years to a low of 24% in 2000, the last measure prior to 9/11.
Fears of terrorism also rose in 2015, when the Islamic State group was active in the Middle East, and after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, in December of that year that many regarded as a terrorist attack.
Americans who live in cities (41%) are modestly more likely to express concern about being a terrorism victim than those who live in suburban (34%) or rural areas (33%). Older Americans, particularly those aged 65 and older (44%), worry more than younger adults. Twenty-eight percent of those aged 18 to 29 are worried, as are 36% of those between the ages of 30 and 64.
Hispanic adults (54%) also express greater worry about being a victim of terrorism than White (31%) and Black adults (44%), which may explain why Hispanic adults are more likely to report permanently altering the way they live because of 9/11.
Confidence in Government to Protect Citizens Relatively Low
Fifty-five percent of U.S. adults have a great deal (19%) or fair amount (36%) of confidence in the U.S. government to protect its citizens from future acts of terrorism. This ties the lowest level of confidence in the trend, from December 2015. Confidence is slightly lower now than five years ago (59%) and substantially lower than 15 years ago (75%). In the days after 9/11, 88% of U.S. adults said they were confident.
Americans’ confidence in the government being able to protect them from terrorism is strongly influenced by whether their preferred party controls the presidency. Currently, 78% of Republicans are confident in the government’s ability to keep Americans safe from terrorism, compared with 59% of independents and 29% of Democrats.
The pattern was reversed in 2021, when Democrat Joe Biden was president. At that time, 80% of Democrats were confident, compared with 53% of independents and 41% of Republicans.
Party differences were much smaller in the past. In 2011, 75% of Americans were confident in the government, including 87% of Democrats, 73% of Republicans and 69% of independents. Thus, the long-term decline in overall confidence partly reflects the much lower confidence expressed by today’s opposition party: Democrats’ 29% confidence today is far below Republicans’ 41% under Biden in 2021 and 73% under Barack Obama in 2011. This follows the same pattern Gallup has observed in recent years in trust in the government, generally.
Bottom Line
Twenty-five years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, most Americans continue to believe that people have permanently changed the way they live, though many fewer say they have done so themselves. While concern about being a victim of terrorism is slightly below the historical average of 41%, Americans are now less confident in the government’s ability to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks. This reduced confidence is largely a function of the increasingly partisan way in which Americans view national conditions and place trust in the government.
Stay up to date with the latest insights by following @Gallup on X and on Instagram.
Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works. View complete question responses and trends (PDF download).
