Citizens Respond to Terrorists

Phoenicians Report No Changes To Basic Daily Behaviors As A Result Of Terrorism

Over three-quarters (77%) of Phoenicians report that they have not changed their daily behaviors at all in response to terrorism.  One in nine (11%) report that it has caused changes in infrequent behavior, such as traveling.  Another 6% indicate that they have changed basic daily behaviors.

According to the Director of the O’Neil Associates Valley Monitor, Dr. Michael O’Neil, “We should view these responses on two different levels.  First, it is clear that for the vast majority of Phoenicians, terrorism has not impacted their daily lives or even infrequent activities.  At the same time, slightly more than one person in six reports that it has had some impact on their lives.  Perhaps more significantly, a relatively small, though not insignificant, proportion (6%) report that it has changed basic daily behaviors.  The fact that the preponderance of opinion is otherwise should not undermine the severe and often traumatic impact that terrorism may have had on a small segment of the population.  Anecdotally, in the course of our interviews, we encountered individuals whose behavior in response to a simple survey question suggested the depth of their responses to recent events.  Indeed, the inference is that for a relatively small number of individuals, they are not only concerned about recent events, they have become personally terrified by them.”

What’s Next?

Respondents were asked a follow-up question, “What form of terrorism do you consider to be the most likely to happen in the United States?”.  Far and away the largest single response was biological terrorism (35%).  The next most common response was an honest “I don’t know”(24%).  Interestingly, despite the degree of attention given to it and the fact that the most conspicuous example of large-scale terrorism to date has involved airplanes, only 4% of respondents feel that airplane-based terrorism will be the most likely to occur next in this country.  This suggests a huge discontinuity between current public attitudes and the response of government to date, which seems to have been more focused on airplane security than any other form of potential terrorism.  This, of course, does not suggest that the government response is wrong, only that its relative emphasis is significantly different from that which would be the focus of the general public.