Utahns recognize threat but refuse to be cowed

The possibility that terrorists could target the Winter Games in Utah is apparently a very real fear shared by a majority of Utahns.

But that fear won't stop them from welcoming and attending the Games next February.

In a new Deseret News-KSL TV poll conducted by Dan Jones & Associates, 59 percent of those questioned said it was very likely or somewhat likely a terrorist attack would be directed at the 2002 Winter Games.

Deseret News graphicDeseret News-KSL TV poll / Wirthlin pollRequires Adobe Acrobat.

Still, there is overwhelming confidence that Olympic security efforts will foil terrorist plots against the Games. Some 72 percent said they were very confident or somewhat confident in security efforts. (The Deseret News examines security issues surrounding the Games in-depth on Tuesday.)

Among the confident is 2nd District Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, who said security planning "has always been a priority," even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

"If we were to let terrorist threats interfere with an event that celebrates nations of the world coming together in peaceful competition, then the terrorists win," he said.

Some 92 percent of those questioned in the Deseret News poll said the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in Washington, D.C., and New York would not change their plans to attend free or ticketed Olympic events.

In a Deseret News/KSL-TV poll conducted by Dan Jones & Associates the day of the terror attacks, 26 percent of Utahns said they were much less or somewhat less likely to attend Olympic events. By Sept. 26, only 8 percent said the attacks had altered their plans to attend the Games.

Utahns' attitudes toward terrorism mirror similar polls conducted nationally. The Deseret News poll found that 65 percent said recent terrorist attacks had shaken their own personal sense of safety and security, either somewhat or a great deal.

In a national poll conducted by Wirthlin Worldwide this month, 63 percent of Americans said their sense of personal safety and security were somewhat or greatly shaken by the events.

The Deseret News/KSL-TV poll found that 65 percent of Utahns believe that it is somewhat or very likely that terrorists will try to explode a nuclear bomb or use biological or chemical weapons in the United States.