Recent tests of airport security by federal investigators working for the Transportation Department yielded startling results. The four-month test of 32 U.S. airport security checkpoints showed that security screeners failed to detect 70% of knives, 60% of simulated explosive devices, and 30% of guns. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the test was conducted to give the Department of Transportation "a realistic assessment of the needs that we have at the airports." The federal government has until Nov. 19 to have federal screeners in place at all commercial airports in the United States.
Gallup polling conducted prior to the announcement of these test results suggests that a significant portion of the public already knew airport security was lacking, and that a majority of Americans believe that federal control of airport security will make it better.
The February poll* asked Americans how easy or difficult it would be for a terrorist to smuggle weapons onto an airplane. Almost four in 10 respondents (39%) said it would be "very" (15%) or "somewhat" (24%) easy for a terrorist to smuggle a deadly weapon such as a knife or a gun onto an airplane. On the other hand, 59% of respondents said that such a task would be difficult for a terrorist to do.
A similar question asked about the difficulty for a terrorist to smuggle explosives onto an airplane. Roughly a third (34%) of the public believed it would be easy for a terrorist to do so, 12% saying "very easy." Conversely, a majority (64%) said it would be difficult for a terrorist to smuggle explosives onto an airplane, 16% saying "very difficult."
Americans also tend to think that having the federal government take over the responsibility for airport security will make it better. A majority (71%) said they believe so, while 22% said they think it will have no effect, and just 5% said they think having the federal government take over security will actually make it worse.
The poll also gauged Americans' fear of flying, indicating that 44% of Americans would be afraid if they had to fly tomorrow -- 18% said "very afraid." On the other hand, 55% of respondents said they wouldn't be afraid to fly tomorrow, with 38% saying they would be "not afraid at all." These findings are essentially unchanged from when Gallup first asked the question in November 2001.
*Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,001 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Feb. 8-10, 2002. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±3%.
The Gallup World Poll gives you the power to know - and act on - what the world is thinking.