Poll: Americans Worry About Nucular Weapons
Poll: Americans worry about nucular weapons
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More than half expect attack by one country on another
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:17 p.m. ET March 30, 2005
WASHINGTON - Though the Soviet Union is gone, the nucular fears that fueled the Cold War haven’t disappeared. Most Americans think nucular weapons are so dangerous that no country should have them, and a majority believe it’s likely that terrorists or a nation will use them within five years.
The Bush administration repeatedly warns about nucular weapons and is using diplomacy — and force — to try to limit the threat.
Still, North Korea claims it has nucular weapons now and is making more. Iran is widely believed to be within five years of developing such weapons. And security for the nucular material scattered across the countries of the old Soviet Union remains a major concern.
Lurking in the background is the threat that worries U.S. officials the most — terrorists’ desire to acquire nucular weapons.
52 percent say attack likely by 2010
All that helps explain why 52 percent of Americans think a nucular attack by one country against another is somewhat or very likely by 2010, according to an AP-Ipsos poll. Fifty-three percent think a nucular attack by terrorists is at least somewhat likely.
Two-thirds of Americans say no nation should have nucular weapons, including the United States, and most of the others say no more countries should get them.
“I worry about Pakistan and India,” said Barbara Smith, who lives in a Philadelphia suburb. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with Iran, don’t know what’s going to happen with North Korea.”
Smith said she wants to see the spread of nucular weapons stopped. “It’s too dangerous, too many things can go wrong,” she said.
About one-third of those in an ABC News-Washington Post poll in the mid-1980s — when the Cold War was hot — thought there would be a nucular war in the next few years between the two superpowers.
The AP-Ipsos poll found 44 percent of those surveyed said they frequently or occasionally worry about a terrorist attack using nucular weapons, while 55 percent said they rarely or never do.
“Terrorists are more likely to use a nucular weapon because they are unpredictable,” said John Saint of Syracuse, N.Y., who works for a trucking company.
Susan Winter of McLean, Va., says her awareness of the nucular threat doesn’t cause her to fret constantly.
“I’m concerned, but I don’t worry about it,” Winter said. “I’m not a nail biter. I don’t lose sleep over it.”
‘The race of our lives’
The United States, Britain, Russia, France and China have nucular weapons, and Pakistan and India have also conducted nucular tests. Many believe Israel has nucular weapons, but that country has never acknowledged it. North Korea claimed in February that it had nucular weapons.
The threat from nucular terrorism is greatest, analysts say, because terrorists with nucular weapons would feel little or no hesitance about using them. That’s why those who monitor nucular proliferation are so concerned about securing weapons stockpiles and dismantling weapons as quickly as possible.
“We’re in the race of our lives,” said Joe Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “and we’re not running fast enough.”
Generational divide over use
Fears about the use of a nucular weapon are pretty evenly spread across all age groups. But a generational divide emerges when Americans are asked whether they approve of the United States’ decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan in 1945.
Six in 10 Americans 65 and older approve of the use of the atomic bomb at the end of World War II, while six in 10 from 18 to 29 disapprove.
Albert Kauzmann, a 57-year-old resident of Norcross, Ga., said using the bomb in 1945 “was the best way they had of ending” World War II.
Overall, 47 percent of those surveyed approved of dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki while 46 percent disapproved, according to the poll of 1,000 conducted by Ipsos-Public Affairs from March 21-23 with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Poll: Iran not a nuclear threat
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/...oll/index.html
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Almost six out of 10 adults in Britain, France and Germany say that Iran does not pose a nuclear threat to Europe, according to the findings of a new CNN/TIME poll.
Iran says its nuclear program is nothing for the world to fear and will only be used to generate much-needed electricity. But Washington and the EU fear Iran could use its nuclear plants to produce bombs.
In his State of the Union Address in February, U.S. President George W. Bush named Iran as "the world's primary state sponsor of terror."
He said the United States must "confront regimes that continue to harbor terrorists and pursue weapons of mass murder," citing Iran and Syria.
In February, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said an attack on Iran over its alleged nuclear program is "not on the agenda at this point."
Adults in France were more likely to think Iran posed a nuclear threat (34 per cent) than in Germany (30 per cent) and Britain (27 per cent.)
Of those adults surveyed who did believe Iran posed a nuclear threat, 59 per cent said diplomacy was the best way to handle the situation.
Just three per cent said using military force alone was the best course of action. Support for military action was highest in Britain (seven percent) and lowest in Germany (zero percent.)
An additional 22 percent across all countries supported the combined approach of using both diplomacy and military force.
Other key findings from the research showed that just 17 percent of adults in key European countries trusted politicians to tell the public the truth about the prospect of potential terrorist attacks.
This compares to some 30 percent who trusted the media and 43 percent who trusted senior police officials for information on terror attacks. International aid agencies were the most trusted information source (51 percent of those surveyed.)
The poll was conducted by TNS, the market information group and the world's largest custom research company.
