Americans Are Strongly Confident of U.S. Air Safety
Despite several high-profile airline emergencies in the past week, Americans express strong confidence in the safety of air travel in the United States.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 88% of Adults rate U.S. air travel as at least somewhat safe, with 40% who describe it as Very Safe. Just 12% think traveling by plane in America is not very or not at all safe. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Among those who travel by commercial airliner once a month or more, the level of confidence is even higher: 92% view air travel as safe, including 42% who think it is Very Safe.
Americans have expressed concern about airline security, particularly in the wake of terrorist incidents or attempts, in surveys going back over five years. But 55% said in a March 2010 survey that flying in a commercial airliner is safer than driving in their own car. Forty-one percent (41%) thought airline travel in the United States is safer than in the rest of the world, and another 44% said it is about as safe.
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The survey of 1,000 American Adults was conducted on April 4-5, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
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