40% of Americans Are Somewhat Confident in the Department of Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created nearly nine years ago, in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Now with just about a decade of experience with the DHS, the Reason-Rupe poll asked Americans about their level of confidence in the department's primary role: preventing another terrorist attack on US soil. Only 15 percent of Americans are "Very Confident" with another 40 percent who are "Somewhat Confident". Another 21 percent is slightly confident, and 22 percent is not at all confident.

Click here for full survey results.

Survey Methods

The Reason-Rupe Q3 2011 poll collected a nationally representative sample of 1200 respondents, aged 18 and older from all 50 states and the District of Columbia using live telephone interviews from August 9th-18th 2011. The margin of sampling error for this poll is ± 3 percent. The margin of error for the GOP presidential race numbers is ± 4.79%. Interviews were conducted with respondents using both landline (790) and mobile phones (410). Landline respondents were randomly selected within households based on the adult who had the most recent birthday. Sample was weighted by gender, age, ethnicity, and Census region, based on the most recent US Census data. The sampling frame included landline and mobile phone numbers generated using Random Digit Dialing (RDD) methods and randomly selected numbers from a directory-listed sample. Clickhere for full methodological details. NSON Opinion Strategy conducted the poll's fieldwork. View full methodology.