Members of the military and first responders watch as an American flag is unfurled on the side of the Pentagon to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on September 11, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty …
Twenty-five years later, the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, are still remembered as among the most important historic events in many Americans’ lives, according to a new poll.
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A new Ipsos poll finds that about half of U.S. adults name the 9/11 attacks in an open-ended question about the most important historic occurrences in their lifetimes. That's despite other momentous events that have happened since then, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the elections of Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
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The polling points to the enduring legacy of 9/11, even as many Americans today are too young to have experienced or comprehended the event a quarter century ago. Ipsos found that the vast majority of Americans remember where they were when they heard about the attacks, and about two-thirds of Americans say it impacted the country "a great deal." Separate polling from Gallup finds about 3 in 10 U.S. adults say they permanently changed the way they live their lives because of the attacks.
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By the numbers:
Despite the widespread impact, the Ipsos poll finds relatively few Americans will be marking the anniversary in some way. Only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults plans to do something to commemorate Friday's 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
When U.S. adults were asked to list up to five of the most important historic events in their lifetime in the open-ended question -- where respondents answered in their own words -- the Sept. 11 attacks overshadowed the much more recent COVID-19 pandemic, which 31% of U.S. adults mentioned.
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Other events, including the elections of Trump and Obama, space expeditions and the fall of the Berlin Wall, were cited by many Americans as defining moments. For Americans 65 and older, the most frequently mentioned events were the Sept. 11 attacks, followed by President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, space expeditions and the Vietnam War.
About 6 in 10 adults who were born after the attacks say they first learned about 9/11 in a class or through schoolwork, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in August.
About 9 in 10 Americans say the attacks on Sept. 11 impacted the United States "a great deal" or "quite a bit," according to Ipsos. Roughly 7 in 10 say it had at least "quite a bit" of impact on the world, and about 6 in 10 say it had a significant impact on their generation. Closer to 3 in 10 say it impacted their family or them personally.
Americans ages 50 and older are especially likely to say the attacks affected them personally.
Among the roughly 1 in 10 Americans who plan to mark the day, about 7 in 10 say they will participate in a moment of silence, and most, 56%, will display an American flag.
The Ipsos poll found about one-third of U.S. adults say the country is "more safe," and a similar share say it is "less safe." The remaining one-third, roughly, say the U.S. is about as safe as it was before the attacks.
Why you should care:
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say the country has become safer.
Recent Gallup polling found most U.S. adults, 55%, have "a great deal" or "a fair amount" of confidence in the U.S. government to protect its citizens from future acts of terrorism. That faith was at its highest, 88%, in polling conducted in the days after the 9/11 attack. It has ticked down over the 25-year trend, but the most recent measure is among the lowest recorded, similar to a poll conducted just after a deadly 2015 mass shooting in southern California.
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Additionally, about one-third say they are "very" or "somewhat" worried that they or someone in their family will become a victim of terrorism. That’s down from about 6 in 10 who said that in the days following Sept. 11, 2001.
The Source: The Associated Press contributed to this report. The story is based primarily on a new Ipsos poll about Americans’ views and memories of the Sept. 11 attacks. It also includes findings from Gallup and the Pew Research Center, along with reporting from The Associated Press. This story was reported from Los Angeles.