With 9/11 as G.O.P. Backdrop, Families Express Raw Emotions

When the Republicans chose New York City for their national convention, it was clear that the Sept. 11 attacks would provide an emotional backdrop. Tomorrow, on the first night of the convention, relatives of victims will address the delegates. So will former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who is expected to revisit Sept. 11 with the forcefulness of someone who helped to guide the city as the unthinkable events of that day unfolded.


With the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks coming little more than a week after the convention, a survey by The New York Times shows that those with the most personal connection to 9/11 - those who lost a loved one - differ from the public at large on some political and national issues: They are more skeptical about national safety and less impressed with the administration's efforts before and after the attacks. Their views on the way the 9/11 investigation was handled are also complex. About half of the 339 people questioned faulted the Bush administration for not providing "adequate cooperation," but almost four in five said the administration was taking the commission's findings "somewhat seriously" or "very seriously." A majority said the federal government was still not doing enough to prevent terrorism, and almost as many expressed concern about another terrorist attack on New York. About half also said the city was not prepared to deal with one.

Both major parties have tried to form an emotional connection with the victims' families, but the survey indicates that the relatives have seesawing feelings about who to blame and who to vote for - feelings that will probably keep them from becoming political props this year.
"The intelligence agencies sit there with their suits and their Rolex watches, and people like my husband and the police and the Fire Department come in and fix up their mistakes," said Francine Raggio of Brooklyn, whose husband was working as an operations supervisor at the World Trade Center on 9/11. She said she would vote for President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. "Everybody is still cleaning up the mess from the government, the intelligence agencies."

Nor are the victims' relatives pleased that a political convention is about to open in New York. About half said the Republicans should have gone somewhere else. Slightly more than a quarter said the G.O.P. had chosen New York "to capitalize on Sept. 11," about the same number who said that the Republicans' motivation was "to support the city" and "show it's safe."
Another way the study differs from a typical Times poll was unexpected: The process of interviewing respondents took longer than for a typical poll because many questions stirred still-raw emotions. Some respondents began crying, and one was so upset by a question about Mr. Bush that she began screaming. A typical telephone interview for a New York Times/CBS News Poll can be completed in 15 to 20 minutes. Some interviews for this study lasted more than an hour.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/29/politics/campaign/29poll.html?hp