Poll Shocker: 9/11 Still Defines America

Twenty-five years after four hijacked planes changed America forever, most Americans still call September 11 a defining moment the country must never forget.

Quick Take

A new CBS News/YouGov poll marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with Americans nationwide.
Most respondents say 9/11 fundamentally changed the country and that remembering it matters deeply.
A majority also say the nation feels less united now than it did right after the attacks.
A separate YouGov survey found sharp partisan splits over how much attention 9/11 still deserves.

What The New Poll Found

CBS News and YouGov surveyed 2,373 adults nationwide between September 1 and 4, 2026, ahead of the 25th anniversary. The poll found most Americans still see the 2001 attacks as a defining event that reshaped the country for good. A strong majority also said remembering that day remains very important, a sentiment that has barely faded across a quarter century of anniversaries.

That steady conviction says something about how deeply 9/11 marked the American psyche. Wars end, presidents change, headlines fade. But the image of the towers falling has stayed fixed in the national memory in a way few other events have. Twenty-five years on, most Americans still refuse to treat that morning as ancient history.

A Consistent Story Across Two Decades

This is not a new finding. Five years earlier, on the 20th anniversary, a CBS News poll found much the same thing: most Americans believed the country was forever changed by 9/11, and most said they still remembered that day vividly, often with lingering sadness. The 25-year numbers show that feeling has not softened with time, even as fewer Americans experienced the day firsthand.

That consistency matters. Polling on emotional national events can swing wildly depending on current events, but 9/11 anniversary numbers have stayed remarkably steady. Whether the poll comes five years or twenty-five years after the attacks, most Americans keep landing in the same place: it changed us, and we should not stop remembering it.

The Unity Question Cuts The Other Way

Here is where the anniversary story turns less comfortable. The CBS poll found most Americans feel there is less unity in the country today than there was in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, even though many believe the nation would rally together again if tested the same way. That gap between memory and present reality says a lot about where the country sits in 2026.

It is a fair point for conservatives to raise. The post-9/11 spirit of shared purpose, flags on every porch, strangers helping strangers, did not survive the decades that followed. Political division has hardened since, and Americans clearly notice the difference. Remembering the tragedy is easy. Rebuilding that unity has proven much harder.

Partisan Splits Show Up In Related Polling

A separate YouGov survey conducted just before the anniversary found about half of Americans think September 11 should become a national holiday, while roughly a quarter disagree. That same poll found a partisan divide over whether the country focuses on 9/11 too much, too little, or about right, with Democrats notably more likely than Republicans to say the nation dwells on it excessively.

A related Washington Times report on that same survey found 13 percent of Democrats say 9/11 gets too much attention 25 years later, compared to far fewer Republicans who feel that way. That split is worth sitting with. For most conservatives, the idea that any American would call remembrance of nearly 3,000 murdered civilians “too much” attention misses the point of why the day exists at all.

Safety Fears Linger Alongside The Memory

Anxiety about another attack has not disappeared either. A 2025 Gallup finding cited by the Washington Examiner showed 40 percent of Americans still worry a great deal about another terrorist attack on U.S. soil, down from about 70 percent who expressed that fear on the tenth anniversary. Fear has cooled with distance from the event, but it has not vanished.

Mamdani should respect the wishes of the families that lost their loved ones….@NYCMayor

Petition from 9/11 families asks NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend remembrance ceremony – CBS New York https://t.co/sPbH1Hf2lK

— Bill (@BillMcCaul71441) September 8, 2026

That decline in fear alongside a steady sense of national change tells the real story of this anniversary. Americans have learned to live with the memory without living in constant dread of a repeat. The scar remains, but the panic has faded, replaced by something closer to quiet, permanent resolve to never forget what happened.