More Americans think 9/11 changed US for the worse than the better

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - More Americans than ever think the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks changed the US for the worse, rather than the better, according to a new poll released on Wednesday.

The Washington Post-ABC News survey indicates 46% of Americans think 9/11 changed the nation for the worse, up from 42% who agreed when the question was last asked in 2011, and 27% in 2002.

Just 33% agree that the attacks changed the US for the better, an all-time low in the poll's records.

Nearly half of respondents, 49%, agree that America is safer than before 9/11. That is a dramatic drop from September 2011 when 64% of Americans said the country was more secure in the immediate wake of former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's death in Pakistan during a special operations raid.

Bin Laden masterminded the attacks that led to the deaths of nearly 3,000 people in New York City, Pennsylvania and Virginia as hijackers overran commercial airliners and flew them into major sites, including the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

Passengers overtook the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania before hijackers were able to fly it to their intended target, which is thought to be either the White House or US Capitol.

There is a stark divide among partisans on whether they think the US is safer today than before the attacks. Some 57% of Democrats think it is, compared to 54% of Republicans who think it is not.