Since the mid-May terrorist bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, many Democrats on Capitol Hill have been critical of the Bush administration's efforts in the war on terrorism, and have even gone so far as to imply that the administration deserves some measure of blame for the attacks. Democratic Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, who is also running for president, was recently quoted in the Miami Herald as saying, ''The whole Iraq war and now postwar has had the effect of taking attention, leadership, and resources away from the war on terror…They had to make a choice, and they chose Iraq. And thus lots of bad things have happened, including the regeneration of al Qaeda.''
As discussed in a recent Gallup Poll analysis (see "Bush Approval at 66%" in Related Items), the majority of Americans are hesitant to assign blame to the Bush administration for these terrorist attacks. In response to a May 19-21 Gallup Poll* only 8% of Americans said they blame the Bush administration "a great deal" for the attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco, while 19% blame the administration "a moderate amount." Twenty-six percent of Americans assign "not much" blame, and 45% do not blame the Bush administration at all.
But a political breakdown of these responses tells a different story. People who identify themselves as Democrats are more likely than Republicans to blame the Bush administration for the terrorist attacks. A similar pattern emerged when Americans were asked how confident they are in the administration's ability to protect its citizens from future terrorist acts.
Democrats More Likely to Blame Bush Administration
A majority of both Democrats (54%) and Republicans (89%) do not assign much blame to the Bush administration for the recent attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco. But Democrats are more likely than Republicans to blame the Bush administration either a great deal (13% compared with 3%) or a moderate amount (31% compared with 7%).
Republicans More Confident in Administration to Protect Against Terrorism
Gallup also recently asked Americans how much confidence they have in the Bush administration's ability "to protect its citizens against future acts of terrorism." Not surprisingly, Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to express confidence in the Bush administration's ability to protect against terrorism. More than half of Republicans (56%) have "a great deal" of confidence in the Bush administration in this respect, while less than a quarter of Democrats (24%) are so confident. However, a majority of Democrats express at least a moderate amount of confidence in the Bush administration to protect the nation from terrorism, though about one in three are not very confident.
Bottom Line
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, support for the Bush administration skyrocketed to new highs among both Republicans and Democrats. And while political divisions on the terrorism issue are evident, Democrats and Republicans show much greater gaps on other issues such as the economy.
*Results are based on telephone interviews with approximately 505 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted May 19-21, 2003. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±5%.
