Because terrorism is not a winning issue for Democrats, it therefore is not a threat. And since it's not a threat it's therefore not an issue. Only when a terror incident against the United States occurs again while Bush is in office will it become a a threat, and then an issue, since they can now use for political purposes.

(Though I suppose, based on those poll numbers, Karl Rove could craft a commercial for next year saying that George W. Bush made America safe again for Democrats to be frivolous after 9/11, just as they were in the Clinton era. But I dobut Terry McAuliffe would stand still for that dig.)

When, as one of the red states remaining after the blue states secede from the Union to annex themselves to Canada, may we in NH build a fence around our borders e.g. Israel?

We're missing a key data point, though: how would Republican supporters answer the same poll? I suspect the results would also be surprisingly low because Americans of all political stripes may unfortunately be getting complacent.

After all, the War on Terrorism has been going pretty well. Al Qaeda has been chased out of Afghanistan and Osama is dead or impotent. Any risk of Saddam giving support to al Qaeda is now nonexistant. Most importantly, there haven't been any further attacks within America. It's only natural for Americans to think that the terrorist threat is more or less under control. I think York misinterprets the results when he writes that Democratic supporters would simply shut down the war on terrorism; more likely, they think that current anti-terrorism efforts are effective so they don't need to worry.

The key within the phrase is the word 'fighting'. The left does not want to fight terrorism because it is afraid of it (and is more afraid of what such a fight requires). Different wording would probably bring about higher poll numbers, although at this point, there would have to be political points to be scored against Bush if one asks likely Democratic primary voters.

One remembers how long and hard the Democrats wailed in late '83 and into '84 as they tried to knock Reagan down for economic reasons, only to be left at the station as the recovery express came roaring through.

The way the survey was apparently worded, the only thing we can factually say is, terrorism isn't the TOP concern of many Dems.

A more interesting survey would have ranked the concerns in a point system.

A poll finds isolationism in N.H. and Iowa. Imagine that!