Poll: Older citizens feel safe from attack

Adrienne Packer

Friday, Sept. 14, 2001 | 10:02 a.m.

Older Americans feel safe from terrorist attacks. Residents younger than 20 are far less confident.

A Las Vegas research company conducted an overnight survey Wednesday of valley residents. Pollsters garnered opinions about terrorist violence in the United States and whether Las Vegas could be a target.

Jim Medick, managing director of MRC Group Research Institute, said 35 of his employees interviewed 285 residents older than 18. The survey's margin of error was 5 percent.

"I had seen some national polls, but we'd never really looked at Las Vegas," Medick said. "This is nothing more than a public service. It gets people thinking more about their thinking and how it falls in line with others."

Medick said his company, which does research for Fortune 500 companies and market tests for movies and commercials, conducted the survey with its own money and plans only to distribute the results to the media.

Sixty percent of the Las Vegas residents surveyed said they feel safe from acts of terrorism, but only 27 percent of the 18- to 20-year-old age group said they are comfortable.

"They're looking at something different than the older crowd," Medick said. "We're going to go back out to see whether that's an anomaly or if that's the way it is."

The poll says the 18 to 20 age group was small and made up just 4 percent of those interviewed.

The results say 78 percent of those polled believe the government will find the attackers. Again, only 27 percent of the younger age group were confident the suspects would be taken into custody.

The poll shows 36 percent of the residents believed the attack could have been prevented, 61 percent of the younger age group believed it could have been, and 26 percent of residents older than 61 agreed.

Younger interviewees were also less confident in President Bush's handling of the attacks -- 55 percent said they have no confidence he can handle the crisis. The most confident group -- 77 percent -- was made up of residents between 41 and 50.

About 52 percent of the residents said they believe terrorist attacks are likely or very likely to happen in Las Vegas. Ninety-two percent of those polled considered Tuesday's attacks "acts of war."

"I just get curious; these are questions I had on my mind," Medick said.