25 Years On, 9/11 Still Tops Americans' List of Defining Historic Events

Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the event remains one of the most frequently cited historic moments in the lives of Americans, according to a new Ipsos poll.

Asked an open-ended question about the most important historic occurrences of their lifetimes, about half of US adults named the attacks. That placed 9/11 well ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was mentioned by 31 per cent of respondents, as well as the elections of Barack Obama and Donald Trump, space expeditions and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The findings point to the lasting imprint of 9/11 even as a growing share of Americans are too young to have witnessed it. Most adults say they remember where they were when they learned of the attacks, and roughly two-thirds say the events affected the country "a great deal." Separate Gallup polling found about three in ten adults say the attacks permanently changed how they live.

For Americans aged 65 and older, 9/11 was the most commonly cited event, followed by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, space expeditions and the Vietnam War. Among those under 35, the pandemic was more prominent: about half named COVID-19, while roughly a third mentioned 9/11. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in August found about six in ten adults born after the attacks first learned about them in a classroom or through schoolwork.

Kevin Noel, 51, recalled emerging from a subway station near the World Trade Center to watch the catastrophe unfold. The smell of the inferno still returns to him whenever he is in the area. He calls 9/11 the most historic event of his life and plans to reflect privately on Friday. "Every Sept. 11, I just — it's a traumatic day for me where I just go silent," he said.

Clara Kiel, 88, a retired secretary in Onamia, Minnesota, said World War II shaped her own life more deeply, but she remembers the shock of watching the attacks on television. "It always seems like there's something in history that changes the way people think," she said. "9/11 did it for the generation that grew up through that."

Kainoa Ilac, an 18-year-old in California who learned about the attacks from his parents, both history teachers, said his generation still feels the effects, from airport security to awareness of government surveillance.

Lakesha Crowell, 40, remembers sitting in her sophomore world history class in Meridian, Mississippi, when her teacher announced that two planes had struck the World Trade Center. She recalls the security changes, the economic fallout and the way some people began looking differently at foreigners. "It affected us a lot, because it changed our way of living, and it changed our way of thinking," she said.

Despite the widespread sense of impact, relatively few Americans plan to mark the anniversary. Only about one in ten intends to do something to commemorate Friday's 25th anniversary, with most of those joining a moment of silence and 56 per cent planning to display an American flag.

Americans are divided on whether the country is safer from foreign attacks than it was before 9/11. About a third say the US is "more safe," a similar share say it is "less safe," and roughly another third see little change. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say the country has become safer.

Recent Gallup polling found 55 per cent of adults have "a great deal" or "a fair amount" of confidence in the government's ability to protect citizens from future terrorism — far below the 88 per cent recorded in the days after the attacks and among the lowest levels in the 25-year trend. About a third say they are very or somewhat worried that they or a family member could become a victim of terrorism, down from roughly six in ten shortly after 2001.

David Bronkhurst, 49, of Bloomingdale, New Jersey, remembers his then-partner volunteering at the World Trade Center site and friends who later died from cancers linked to toxins at ground zero. He plans to attend an annual candlelight procession from a neighbouring town. He does not consider the country safer now, but says he does not dwell on the risk. "You can't go through life being scared," he said.

The Ipsos poll of 1,013 adults was conducted from August 21 to 23 using a sample drawn from the firm's probability-based KnowledgePanel, designed to be representative of the US population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.