morning. the pentagon memorial chapel and the navy reflection room are open until 12:00 p.m. [indistinct conversations] ♪

we are back with dan vallone of more in common u.s. here to discuss the recent survey on american's attitudes toward the 9/11 terrorist attacks 21 years later and its mission to reduce polarization. good morning. guest: good morning. appreciate the chance to talk with you today. host: first of all, tell us about more in common u.s. what is your organization's goals? guest: we are a nonpartisan research nonprofit and we work to bring americans together so we can better solve our problems and make progress together. one of the ways we do that is we conduct unique public opinion research looking at issues of history, identity and belonging in america. and then we use those insights to try and surface areas of common ground and bring americans together on issues that have salient as a nation.

host: your organization is called more in common u.s. does that mean there are affiliates outside the u.s.? guest: that is correct. we work as part of a multinational initiative and there are more in common teams in the u.k., france, germany and poland. and all of these countries we work to counter the forces of polarization, the forces pulling societies apart, and try to to bring people together. in the u.s., we are best known for a report released a couple of years ago called "hidden tribes: a study of america's polarized landscapes." we looked at the exhausted majority. that term has gained traction in politics and in culture to describe how americans feel. folks can find all of our research at moreincommon.com. host: how long has your organization been in existence

and where you get your funding from? guest: we are relatively new. we have been around about four years. we are funded primarily by large philanthropic actors and all the countries we work in. in the u.s., we have foundations who support us from across the ideological spectrum because we try to work with americans across all segments of our population. host: let's talk about your new poll, remembering the post 9/11 america. what were you hoping to find out by doing the survey? guest: i appreciate the question and i should say we did not necessarily go into the survey trying to produce a set of results. we have been conducting a year-long study looking at how americans feel toward significant events in our national history. just last month we released a report that looks at memories and attitudes toward the civil rights movement of the 1950's and 1960's. we commissioned the survey with

the international polling form yougov to look at american's memories of 9/11. we were trying to better understand, given the significance of 9/11, what memories do we have in common? where do our memories diverge? what should we do about it? we felt like this was an important year to do the survey in particular because we are entering a window. we are more than a generation removed from the attack. one in four americans was born after 9/11 and that population will be the majority in a couple of decades. we are in a window where our collective memories of 9/11 will be shaped more by how we teach and learn about the attacks then what we remember from personal experience. it is really important moment for us to step back and say, what are our collective memories? host: what were the major findings of the survey? guest: we have a lot of interesting findings and we fielded the survey to a sample

of americans representative of the adult population of new york and the adult population of muslim americans. i will highlight three topline findings that i think are interesting. the first is around the significance of 9/11. we see that 9/11 remains one of the most impactful events in recent history, but it is receding into history. 56% of americans say the attacks changed their lives. but only 37% of generations feel this way. when we asked americans, what does never forget in the context of 9/11 mean? generation z is twice as likely to say they don't know. we can see the memories are growing weaker. the second major finding is around the complexity of memories we hold about 9/11. for example, muslim americans

are more than twice as likely as the average american to associate the period after 9/11 with islamophobia. younger americans are less than half as likely as older americans to describe the country as united in the aftermath of 9/11. we can see as the passage of time -- as time passes, we have a fracturing of our memories in addition to memories growing weaker over time. the third major point i highlight is how do our memories connect with our world today? in the survey we ask people the extent to which they feel accepted in america today. we found an interesting insight which is younger americans, again, those least likely to associate the aftermath of 9/11 with unity, are also among the americans least likely to feel accepted in the country today. so, 24% of generation z does not

feel they are accepted and another 18% are not sure. that is important because how we feel in the moment influences how we remember the past. what we are seeing in the data is younger americans have a harder time remembering solidarity because they do not feel that in the country today. host: what is the impact of that major gap between younger americans who don't remember the terror and the uncertainty of that day and older americans who remember either being there or watching it on television? what is going to be the major impact of that gap between those age groups? guest: sure. this is a key question. it speaks to why does this data matter? why is this important? it speaks to the fact -- it suggests we are losing our capacity to draw on shared lessons from 9/11. that is critical because, as a society, we are going to have to grapple with future crises.

the lessons of 9/11 have a lot to do with how do we respond to fear? the fracturing we see in our memories is something we should be working to address because fear is not going away. in future crises, the extent to which we can draw on shared lessons of 9/11 will significantly influence the extent to which we respond to fear with solidarity or allow ourselves to be divided against each other. host: let's let some of our viewers take part in the conversation. we are going to open up special lines for this part of the show. we are going to break it up by age. if you are under age 30, if you are under age 30, that means you are alive but you might have been really young on the days of 9/11, 2001, your number is (202)-748-8000. if you are between the ages of

30 and 49, between 30 and 49, your number is (202)-748-8001. if you are between ages 50 and 64, if you are my age between 50 and 64, we want to hear from you at (202)-748-8002. if you are 65 and older, 65 and older, your number is going to be (202)-748-8003. let me run through it one more time. if you are under age 30, (202)-748-8000. between 30 and 49, (202)-748-8001. between 50 and 64, (202)-748-8002. and 65 and older (202)-748-8003. keep in mind you can always text us at (202)-748-8003 and we are always reading on social you on twitter @cspanwj and facebook at

facebook.com/c-span. dan, as we said earlier, one in four americans currently today were born after the september 11 attacks. like you said, that number is set to grow over half the population in 20 years. what should we be teaching people about 9/11? what are the lessons we absolutely must impart about what happened on that day? guest: i want to say also as much as we need to do more to educate younger americans, there is also work all of us, however old we are, to bring new perspectives into how we remember the attacks. but i think there is, broadly speaking, three points i would highlight. our survey found encouraging results on this front as well. when we asked americans, what

does never forget in the context of 9/11 mean? the strong majority, close to seven in 10, said two things. first, the victims and their families. we should never forget. second, the sacrifices of first responders. those immediately on 9/11 and in the years that have passed. those two points had brought agreement across the american population. the third one is the sense of unity. i want to say a more complex sense of unity because it is important we remember not all americans felt included in that sense of unity, particularly muslim americans. older americans much more likely to say we should remember the sense of unity the country experienced and that is a less salient memory for younger americans. host: let's go to our phone lines and let's start with steve calling from topeka, kansas on

the 65 and older line. good morning. caller: good morning. my story is not directly related but i will say my attitude toward 9/11 was very joyous and very sorrow. our wedding anniversary is 9/11, 1976. fast-forward 25 years to the hour. i had flowers to be delivered that morning. i was sleeping after the midnight shift. the doorbell rang, the flowers are outside, i expected it to be a joyous occasion with my wife. she is watching the tv as the planes are flying into the world trade center. i will never forget the mixed feelings i had in that moment.

the tragic events and that is my story. host: dan, we hear a lot of stories about how september 11 has changed our memories of where we were and what we were doing on that day. did your survey pick up on anything about how people are remembering where they were and what they were doing on that day? or two people remember back that far? guest: a number of research organizations have asked this kind of question. i think p did one lastew i think you -- pew did one last year. most americans are member what they were doing, where they were, who they were with when they saw the images on television. it has sunk deep into the consciousness of a lot of

americans, particularly those old enough to be processing, engaging in it, may be to know somebody in new york or pennsylvania or the capitol that day. that is where you see some divergence. younger americans who perhaps don't have that personal memory, you can see a gap emerging were older americans don't understand why a younger american might not have as visceral a reaction. you can see judgment seeping into how older americans look at younger americans and confusion with how younger americans feel toward, why our older americans judging them for not remember an event which, to them, happened a long time ago and was less personal? host: as far as the survey, you spoke specifically to new yorkers and talked to them about some of the issues they remember from 9/11. i want to bring up one thing i want you to respond to. as part of the survey, 54% of

new yorkers say the country is safer today from foreign terrorism as it was before the attacks. 10 points higher than the national average of 45. why do new yorkers see the country as being safer than people outside new york? guest: i think in the report there is an interesting -- and i almost want to use the word beautiful -- in this story. 68% say it is safer. new yorkers are the most likely to associate the period after 9/11 as america being strong and resilient. new yorkers are also the most likely to say one of the things we should never forget about 9/11 is the resilience of new york city and its residents. i think that is what explains why new yorkers feel the country is safer. they associate now 11 with a much stronger feeling of strength and resilience. i think that plays into the fact

they feel we are better prepared than other americans do to prevent acts of terrorism from occurring. host: let's talk to a couple of new yorkers. jane is calling from brooklyn, new york. good morning. caller: how are you? host: i am great. go ahead. caller: i just want to start by saying you're absolutely right. new yorkers are extremely strong and we will never forget 9/11 or the terrorists that did this to us. the feelings are awful, sick, angry, scared. you don't know what is going on. i was in my apartment that morning and i hear katie couric say, a small plane has hit the building. i am freaking out. i look out the window and i see

the smoke and what have you. i run up to the roof and there are people already on the roof and we see the second explosion. it was awful. we are praying, crying. i want everybody to remember those feelings and our memories of it are important. they do fade and they come back and you have nightmares. very emotional. i still feel sick about the whole thing and i do not know why they did this to us. i don't understand that still. do all the people in the world, i love you guys and i just want you to be happy and to look at this and remember and hopefully this never happens again. christopher grady was a friend and i miss him. we are stronger together, like we were that day. the flags are out, the people were out, and we were one.

i don't think we have really lost it. i just think we have been up to a lot and never forget 9/11. host: go ahead and respond to her, dan. guest: i appreciate that, jane. has someone who is a new new yorker i have gained appreciation for the strength, resilience and pain so many new yorkers carry. for me, i grew up in new hampshire. i was a high school student on 9/11. i remember when i first learned about the attacks. i was watching them on tv with fellow classmates. but in my memory the other thing i carry is my first visit to west point happened a month after 9/11. i was struck -- we had scheduled it in the summer, long before the attacks -- but when i visited in october what i was struck by was this overwhelming sense of solidarity.

the sense that we are in this together. and i hear that a lot from new yorkers and i heard it again in jane's comments. i think it is something we have to hold onto as a nation and continue to invigorate in our memory as time passes from the event. host: let's talk to another new yorker. we will talk to john calling from rochester, new york on the 30 to 49 line. caller: you mentioned west point. used to be able to just drive through the reservation and take care of this or that. 9/11 changed that. it has got to be hard to get through that post now. you guys just answered a question earlier that i was going to pose. you would like to thank that the security for the country is much better. for a little while that morning

i remember katie couric -- actually, before going to work -- people figured this could not be nothing because we always heard the air defense command and the other elements. it was enough, it was enough to bring that about. that is really all i wanted to say. thank you for taking my call. thank you for remembering. host: go ahead and respond, dan. guest: sure. we found in our survey one of the interesting insights when we asked people to recall the period after 9/11, the two themes across all generations and segments of population, one was fear of terrorism and heightened security measures. what we heard was a reiteration of that. we remember the extent to which

security dramatically changed in the aftermath of 9/11. things like airport security, military installations suddenly transformed within the year is to be radically different from what they were prior to the attacks. host: one of our social media followers has a question. i don't know if you addressed, this in the survey but i will ask. this follower wants to now, how much has the adoption of tabloid news reporting affected the 9/11 reporting? did your survey look at anything along those lines? guest: in this specific survey, unfortunately, we did not get at how different media presented 9/11 and how that influences responded's memories. we study polarization in the u.s. we released a report in trust 19 called perception gap about how

we misunderstand each other. in that report, we did find a striking influence of media in terms of how we think about, in this context, those who have different political views. i think in any conversation we are having whether it is about politics or even 9/11, the media landscape matters hugely. unfortunately, we have seen a fracturing in the american media landscape where there are clusters of more liberal media, conservative media, and folks converging in those ecosystems. i do not know how it applies to 9/11 but it is a salient consideration today. host: let's go back to our phone line and talk to brandon calling from palmdale, california on the under 30 line. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: we can hear you. go ahead. caller: appreciate it. great work you guys are doing.

i am 27. i was in the first grade. i woke up in the morning and my mother covered my eyes. the first thing she said, cover your eyes. i opened my eyes and the plane crashed into the building and she covered my face with a pillow and walking into the other room. [voice breaking] sorry, i am emotional. i went to school that day and that is all we watched on tv. as a child that scarred me but just enough to make me want to join the military. at 18 i joined the army. i did not do any tours in afghanistan, nothing like that, but i serve my country because i

knew in my heart. i want to thank everybody who sacrificed that day. i have cousins in harlem. i pray to god they are alive. thank you for what you do. god bless and appreciate the call. thank you. host: go head and respond. guest: i really appreciate the call and it speaks to one of the findings in the survey. we did ask americans the extent to which they associate patriotism with the aftermath of 9/11. we did find a lot of americans identify patriotism as being a salient part of their memory. this idea of rallying together as americans and recognizing what we have in common. there is complexity. patriotism is often described as a binary. you are either patriotic or

unpatriotic, proud of the country or critical of the country. what we found is it is a blend. our memories of 9/11 are often a blend. there is profound sadness and pain alongside deep love and solidarity. there is patriotism alongside a recognition that, in the case of 9/11, we often excluded muslim americans from this sense of unity. the complexity of patriotism stands out as one of the findings in our report. host: one of the things that surprised me in the report was the section that talked about the feelings of pride to be american, like you were saying. i want to show this to people on the screen. most americans feel proud to be american. republicans and older americans are more likely to say they are proud whereas gen z are least likely to feel proud. what explains those findings? guest: there is a lot that goes

into why people feel a sense of pride in being american. studying social psychology, national pride has a lot of factors that contribute to it. i think in this context what we are seeing is the relationship between pride in being american and feeling accepted in american society. we also show there is a strong relationship between feeling accepted and how someone feels proud to be american. the groups you listed, older americans, republicans are much more likely to say they feel accepted in society today. i think it speaks to the fact that if we want to cultivate a stronger shared sense of pride in being american, we need to work on this crisis of belonging our data suggest that we have in the nation, particularly among younger americans.

host: i want to show that to the people quickly on screen. almost 1/5 of gen z are not sure they are accepted in u.s. society. why not? what is making them feel this way? guest: terric question and i wish i had a great answer. we did not actually look at that specific dynamic inwe did not ga set of findings we wanted to see. this was an exploratory survey for us. we did not anticipate we would find that relationship between younger americans feeling less accepted in society and feeling less national pride. it is one we should follow up with in the future survey. there is a lot going on. why do younger americans feel less accepted in society? host: let's go back to our phone

lines and talk to rich calling from ohio on the 65 and older line. caller: good to talk to you. it seems like we are trying to do a lot for 9/11 and, boy, we were not going to let any bad people come into our country after 9/11. it was a good idea to do that. the thing is now we have open borders. some people want to do good for our country and some people don't. we are trying to keep ourselves independent. our energy independence -- big deal but it is everything in the world so we do not send money to bad countries to make bombs to blow us up. guest: i think this speaks to a finding that we see in this report and more in common has

found in our research more broadly. solidarity is the best antidote. when it society experiences fear as humans we have two impulses. one is to entrench away from those who are different, to reduce our circle of contacts to -- we have a prosocial orientation. we are -- it speaks to when we face crises of fear there is so much we can do to cultivate that sense of solidarity, to reach out across all segments and in doing so we find that is how we get the best results, how we can be the most successful in countering whatever adversary we might be fighting. host: let's talk to robin who is

calling from michigan on the 50 to 64 line. caller: good morning. hi. i'm a proud american. i am a republican. hi. host: robin, turn your television down and go ahead. caller: sure. hi. yes, hi. i have seen the twin towers and what happened, and i am very sensitive of the whole situation, the children, everything that happened. i pray every day, hoping that

everything does not happen again . i am a republican. i'm proud to be american, and i'm sad about the situation. i'm a christian, and i love america. i pray for the world. i am proud of what you guys do. i try to get on this station, and i am glad i finally got through and that i was able to tell you how i feel, and i am very saddened. i am very sensitive and this whole situation,. i pray every day for them and their families -- whole situation, i pray every day for them and their families. guest: thanks, robin. i appreciate you sharing that. one thing you mentioned to think about, which is in this

research, we did not find as much polarization as we typically see between democrats and republicans. often times when we do public opinion research, we often see democrats and republicans having different responses. 63 percent of both democrats and republicans associate the aftermath of 9/11 with bipartisanship, so it speaks to this interesting finding, which is that 9/11 brings back so many different memories, so many different feelings. it also reminds us of the way that we do work together, even in national politics. we can have these memories of when people got these things done for the good of the nation. host: let's talk to dustin from west virginia. dustin is calling on the under 30 line. caller: i guess i just wanted to say -- i'm nervous -- i hope

people who don't remember and do remember know that the shift into afghanistan that we took 20 years to get out of, the nsa -- it was saudi arabia that i'm pretty sure these people come from. the bipartisanship they used to lead us into a war we had no business in. we should have kept calm her head -- calmer heads. i think we lost a whole lot of freedoms that day. the camaraderie was really good. i wish the country was in that state, but we lost a lot of

freedoms, i believe, that day, and i wish we could get some of them back. we wouldn't have been in a year for 20 years. -- a war for 20 years. guest: i appreciate the call. it speaks to something we explored a little in this report. i encourage everyone to go to moreincommon.com. we looked at were memories of the war -- at memories of the war. what i would highlight is that we need to remember the context of fear. how do we deal with fear as a nation? on 9/11 we came together and responded well, coming together to create systems that did keep people safe.

there were ways in which how we responded to fear might not be wise, and certainly we want to do better in the future, so how can we do that? how can we ensure that when a crisis strikes, we respond with solidarity and make carefully considered decisions? host: in our first segment i talked about a newsweek report that showed that u.s. intel said that the 9/11 in verse three might inspire more homegrown violent extremists. in your report, you point out that more than half america grieved -- agreed that the country is safer today than it was. what is that split there?

are people unsure if we are safer now than we were then? guest: i think this speaks to -- it is hard to isolate fear. fear of terrorism is the question we asked. is the country safer from foreign terrorism today relative to before 9/11? people will answer influenced by by -- by how they feel. many people in this country feel afraid, whether it is the pandemic, the economy, or any of the other ways when people are uncertain about what will happen next. people are concerned about their safety, the safety of their loved ones. the folks who are most likely to say that the country is not safer today, it wasn't a

democrat or republican split. it was independent. there is something not about politics going on in the data and it speaks to these broader issues of fear and does not feeling a strong sense of belonging and solidarity in the country. host: let's talk to melissa calling from pocomoke, indiana. melissa, good morning. caller: good morning. i just agree with the fear factor. when the cowards attacked i was babysitting my friend's children while my children were in grade school and watching that made me think i needed to get my kids, find their dad. it was terrifying. we did not know what was going to happen. we were a military family. it did bring everybody together.

it did solidify the country. it is sad that you had to have an attack that would do that. it should be taught. it should never be forgotten. we are a safer country and we are not democrat or republican. we are american. that is first. first we are americans. when it comes to national security, i think most of us are in agreement and it is extremely important to remember today and what it meant and how we can learn from it. guest: i appreciate the call and something the caller just said about we should never forget and we should continue to learn about this -- how do we do that? we should actually learn about

this i and the educationaln -- this in an educational setting. the net 11 memorial has a huge array of classroom materials, things folks can do. we need to learn about 9/11 and add complexity to how we remember the aftermath of the attacks. we need to do more to address this crisis of belonging. i would point folks to a few organizations, welcoming america, mission continue, a veteran nonprofit that brings veterans together with their local communities. those are examples of many organizations trying to make us feel that sense of solidarity today. what is it we can do to strengthen our memories of 9/11?

there was a news outlet that interviewed an emt who had been at ground zero on 9/11 last week. his name is jamie his son -- jimmy -- jamie has son. -- jamie hasan. he said we needed a september 12 day to remember our solidarity. host: you did a study of muslim americans and i wanted to put on the screen one of the things you found in the survey and i want you to talk a little bit about it. muslim americans are more likely to say that mistreatment of

muslim americans defined the period immediately after the 9/11 attacks. 60 4% of muslim americans compared to less than half of americans overall believe muslim americans feel a lot of prejudice in america today. guest: this speaks to what i was saying about the need to add complexity to how we remember 9/11 because we want to remember this profound sense of unity, we want this story of camaraderie to inspire arrests today but that sense of unity did not extend to all people and we too often failed to live up to our best ideals and how we treated muslim americans. we see that very clearly in the data. muslim americans