Zogby Analytics recently posed the question to adults in the United States and three European countries-France, Germany, and the U.K.: "How concerned are you with your own government's ability to prevent religious extremists from committing acts of terrorism"? What we found was overwhelming majorities of Americans (78% very and somewhat concerned combined) and Europeans are concerned about their government's ability to stop acts of terrorism committed by religious extremists. Adults surveyed in France (80% very and somewhat concerned combined), Germany (76% very and somewhat concerned combined) and the United Kingdom (79% very and somewhat concerned combined) did not express a lot of faith in their own government's ability to protect them.
When we examine the demographics of adults surveyed in the US, France, Germany and United Kingdom, people across the board are concerned about the threat of religious extremists, but there are some interesting differences when it comes to age, gender and location. In France for instance, age played a factor in the level of concern among respondents. Younger adults, aged 18-29, were less concerned about their government's ability to protect them (70% very and somewhat concerned combined) compared with older adults aged 50+ (86% very and somewhat concerned combined). In Germany, men were less concerned (71% very and somewhat concerned combined) compared to women (80% very and somewhat concerned combined).
Age also plays a factor for Germans when it comes to the level of concern about the ability of the German government to protect its citizens from religious extremists. Millennials aged 18-29 (70% very and somewhat concerned) were less concerned than older adults aged 50+ (79% very and somewhat concerned).
In the United Kingdom, there was more concern among adults in rural areas (88% very and somewhat concerned) compared with adults living in large cities (74% very and somewhat concerned).
In the United States, age and gender also influenced how people felt about their government's ability to protect them from the threat of religious extremism. Younger adults aged 18-24 (73% very and somewhat concerned combined) were less concerned than older adults aged 50-64 (88% very and somewhat concerned combined), while men (74% very and somewhat concerned combined) were much less likely than women (83% very and somewhat concerned combined) to be concerned about the ability of their government to protect them from religious extremism.
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