What Americans think about the Sept. 11 attacks, 25 years later

A new YouGov survey on the September 11, 2001 attacks explores how Americans see the impact of the attacks 25 years later, including whether Sept. 11 should be a national holiday, how Muslims are treated compared to people of other religions, and whether the War on Terror has been worth the cost.

About half (51%) of Americans think Sept. 11 should be a national holiday to commemorate those who died in the 2001 attacks. 26% say it should not be a national holiday. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say it should be a national holiday (62% vs. 43%).

27% of Americans think the American people focus too little on the memory of the events of Sept. 11, and 8% think they focus on it too much. 46% think the American people focus on it about the right amount. Republicans are about twice as likely as Democrats to say that Americans focus too little on the memory of Sept. 11 (43% vs. 19%).

In September 2013, fewer Americans (20%) said the American people focus too little on the memory of the events of Sept. 11.

Three-quarters (75%) of Americans remember where they were on September 11, 2001, when they heard about the attacks. Only 15% of adults under 30 say they remember where they were when they heard about the attacks. 90% of Americans 30 and older remember where they were when they heard about the attacks.

Among people who remember where they were on Sept. 11, 2001, 81% say they very clearly remember where they were and what they were doing. 14% say they somewhat clearly remember this.

Nearly half (46%) of Americans say they first learned about the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks from watching the news. 15% first learned about the attacks from school and 14% first learned about them from a family member.

54% of Americans think Americans who were born after 2001 generally do not have a good understanding of the September 11, 2001 attacks. 23% think people born after 2001 do have a good understanding.

Americans 45 and older are more likely than younger adults to say Americans born after 2001 do not have a good understanding of the attacks (62% vs. 45%).

Nearly two-thirds (64%) of Americans say the Sept. 11 attacks changed the U.S. completely; 25% say it changed the U.S. a little. 37% of Americans say the attacks changed the world completely. About as many (41%) say it changed the world a little.

43% of Americans think that the U.S. has recovered from the Sept. 11 attacks and 35% say it has not. Many say that the attacks are affecting the following a lot in the U.S. today: the amount of surveillance by the government (67%), spending on security (59%), the way Muslims are treated (54%), military spending (54%), and foreign policy in the Middle East (53%).

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say the Sept. 11 attacks are affecting a lot today the way Muslims are treated in the U.S. (71% vs. 42%) and U.S. immigration policy (58% vs. 45%). Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say the attacks affect a lot today how patriotic Americans feel (51% vs. 29%) and national unity (35% vs. 24%).

Since Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. has fought against the threat of terrorism through military operations abroad and increased security and surveillance inside of the U.S. About half (48%) of Americans — including 71% of Republicans and 37% of Democrats — think these actions have been worth the cost. 25% say they have not been worth the cost. 35% of Democrats and 12% of Republicans hold this view.

Comparing today with 2001, 45% of Americans say we are now safer from terrorist attacks, including 13% who say we are much safer. 20% say we are less safe, including 10% who believe we are much less safe. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe we are safer from terrorist attacks now than we were in 2001 (60% vs. 37%).

52% of Americans say that since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Muslims in the U.S. have been treated worse than people of other religions. 25% of Americans say Muslims have been treated about the same as people of other religions, and 8% say Muslims have been treated better than people of other religions.

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say Muslims have been treated worse than people of other religions in the U.S. since the Sept. 11 attacks (72% vs. 28%).

Since Sept. 11, 2001, which kind of perpetrator has committed the greatest number of violent attacks in the U.S.? 24% of Americans believe it has been right-wing extremists, 19% say it has been Islamic extremists, 17% say lone wolves who aren’t affiliated with any particular group or ideology, and 13% say left-wing extremists.

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say left-wing extremists (26% vs. 2%) and Islamic extremists (29% vs. 14%) have committed the greatest number of violent attacks in the U.S. since Sept. 11. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say right-wing extremists have committed the greatest number of violent attacks in the U.S. since the Sept. 11 attacks (45% vs. 6%).

— Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth contributed to this article

Methodology: This article includes results from an online survey conducted on August 20 - 23, 2026 among 1,098 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is 4.1 percentage points.

Image: Getty (Michael Lee)

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