Nearly half of all American voters, 45%, believe that capturing or killing Osama bin Laden will have no impact on the level of terrorist activity worldwide. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 16% believe getting bin Laden would lead to an increase in terrorist activity while 27% take the opposite view and believe it would reduce terrorist attacks.

A solid plurality of Republicans, Democrats, and unaffiliated voters all hold the view that capturing or killing bin Laden will have no impact on the level of terrorist attacks.

On the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said that “the capture of bin Laden would be of enormous symbolic importance. “ He added however, that “the war against terror is not a war against one guy, Osama bin Laden. It is against a network that uses all sorts of ways of trying to recruit new terrorists."

Just 29% of American voters believe it is even somewhat likely that bin Laden will be captured or killed before the next Presidential election. Forty-two percent (42%) say it’s not very likely that the U.S. will get bin Laden and 26% say it’s not at all likely.

Sixty-one percent (61%) of voters say it’s at least somewhat likely that terrorists will attempt to influence the 2008 Presidential election. Twenty-nine percent (29%) disagree and say that’s not likely to happen.

Thirty-four percent (34%) of voters believe the level of terrorist activity will increase when U.S. troops leave Iraq. Twenty-five percent (25%) take the opposite view and say that terrorism against the U.S. will decline when U.S. soldiers leave Iraq. Thirty percent (30%) say that ending the U.S. presence in Iraq will have no impact on the level of terrorism.

Sixty-eight percent (68%) of voters believe that bin Laden is still alive. Ten percent (10%) say he is not.

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