Terrorist attacks are what most Americans worried about, according to a new report, even more than hospitalization or being victim to a violent crime.
About 15 percent of the latest survey respondents said that they had thought about terrorism in the U.S. a week before the survey and about a quarter of these people were worried about it. Nearly 10 percent of the survey respondents said that they thought about being hospitalized or about exposed to a violent crime.
The report is published by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), headquartered at the University of Maryland. The survey provides an insight into the beliefs and attitudes about terrorism in the U.S.
"Improved understanding of public attitudes can inform programs and tools related to managing public risk perception, increasing effectiveness of pre-and post-event communication by Federal, state, and local officials, and building and supporting more resilient social networks within and across communities," said Gary LaFree, professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at UMD, START director and co-author of the report, according to a news release.
The report also found that most Americans think that the government has done a fairly decent job of dealing with terrorism, with 33 percent saying the government's response was effective, and 54 percent saying it to be somewhat effective.
Nearly 70 percent of the respondents said that "terrorists will always find a way to carry out major attacks no matter what the U.S. government does."
The survey was completed by 1,576 individuals who were 18 years of age or older.
Researchers say that developing community-based strategies to counter terrorism can be beneficial and that there needs to be more support for public outreach programs. About 56 percent of the respondents had no idea about the DHS' "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign.