WASHINGTON (AP) — The confidence of Americans tasked with maintaining Air Force travel and air force safety has slipped a bit since last year, according to a new poll. , most of the time, we believe that air transport is generally safe.
A survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that 64% of US adults say that air travel is “very safe” or “somewhat safe.” That's a slight decline since last year when 71% said it. Currently, about two in 10 adults in the US say air transport is very or slightly unsafe from 12% in 2024.
A faith in the ability of government agencies to ensure safe air travel is permeable. More than half of US adults have “a great deal” confidence in federal agencies, with a slight decline from six-tenths of last year.
The vote took place between February 6 and 10th, shortly after the January 30 collision between an American Airlines passenger plane and a Washington Army helicopter, but a delta jet was on the roof while landing in Toronto. It was done before it was turned over. The Washington collision, which killed all 67 people on two aircraft, was the country's most fatal air disaster since 2001. The 2024 poll came after another incident in which panels were blown off from an Alaska Airlines jet liner above Oregon, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plane.
Overall, Americans believe that travelling by plane is as safe as walking or riding a car. About two-thirds say that walking or driving is a safe mode of transportation. In line with 2024, only about half of US adults say that local metro, subway, or light rail systems are safe.
After Washington crashed, Republican President Donald Trump condemned federal diversity and comprehensive promotion efforts, reassuring that it was safe to fly to Americans. That might help explain why Democrats and independents, not Republicans, saw a decline in trust.
Independents' belief that air travel is significantly safer has now gone from six tenths last year's known as safety to around four tenths now. About seven Democrats say air travel is safe since about three-quarters in 2024. Republicans have not changed their view that air travel is safe.
Democrats and independents also have less confidence in the government's ability to ensure air security than they did four years ago. The poll was conducted before the firing of Federal Aviation Administration employees on probation, but at least part of the shift has been linked to the presidential administration change from Democrat Joe Biden to Trump. It may be.
In January 2024, when Biden was still president, about seven in ten Democrats said they had high confidence in federal agencies to keep the Air Force safe. Now only six out of ten people say that. He also declined the confidence of independents, but Republicans' opinions remained unchanged.
Polls found that US adults' confidence in pilots and commercial airlines remains the same. Approximately eight US adults have a high level of trust in pilots, and about three-quarters say that about commercial airlines.
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The AP-NORC poll of 1,112 adults was conducted on February 6-10 using samples drawn from Norc's probability-based Amerispeak panel designed to represent the US population. I did. The margin for sampling errors across adults is either positive or negative 4.1 percentage points.
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