Ahead of 9/11's 25th Anniversary, a New Poll Finds Democrats More Than Twice as Likely as Republicans
to Say America Remembers the Attacks Too Much.
A new YouGov poll, released ahead of the 25th anniversary of September 11, finds a wide partisan gap in how Americans see the nation's ongoing memory of the attacks. Fielded August 20 to 23, 2026 among 1,098 U.S. adult citizens, the survey found Democrats more than twice as likely as Republicans to say the American people currently focus too much on remembering September 11 — and far more likely to say Muslims in the United States have been treated worse than people of other religions in the 25 years since.
The topline number circulated fast. The New York Post ran it as a September 1 front-page story, and six days later NewsBusters flagged that coverage as an “Editor's Pick,” framing it as evidence that “more than one in eight Democrats think the American people focus too much on remembering Sept. 11.” Breitbart, Townhall, RedState, and a half-dozen other outlets picked up the same figures in the days between.
The numbers below come directly from YouGov's own topline results, not from any outlet's characterization of them. YouGov is a mainstream, publicly traded polling and research firm — not a partisan pollster or an informal internet straw poll — and its full methodology is detailed in the sources panel at the bottom of this page.
- 13% — the share of Democrats who say Americans currently focus too much on remembering Sept. 11, versus 5% of Republicans and 6% of independents · Source: YouGov Q14, Aug. 20-23 2026
- 43% — the share of Republicans who say Americans focus too little on Sept. 11, versus 19% of Democrats · Source: YouGov Q14
- 72% — the share of Democrats who say Muslims in the U.S. have been treated worse than people of other religions since 9/11, versus 28% of Republicans · Source: YouGov Q12
- 62% — the share of Republicans who say Sept. 11 should be a national holiday, versus 43% of Democrats · Source: YouGov Q17
- 71% — the share of Republicans who say the post-9/11 wars and security buildup were “worth the cost,” versus 37% of Democrats · Source: YouGov Q9
The poll's central question, Q14, asked respondents directly: “In your opinion, do the American people currently focus too much or too little on the memory of the events of Sept. 11, 2001?” Across all respondents, 8% said too much, 46% said about right, 27% said too little, and 19% said they weren't sure.
The partisan breakdown is where the gap opens up. Among Democrats, 13% said Americans focus too much on Sept. 11, compared with 6% of independents and 5% of Republicans. On the “about right” answer, the parties were closer — 50% of Democrats, 44% of independents, and 44% of Republicans. The sharpest divide came on the opposite end: 43% of Republicans said Americans focus too little on Sept. 11, more than double the 19% of Democrats and 21% of independents who said the same.
A second question, Q12, asked: “Since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, do you think Muslims in the United States have been treated better, about the same, or worse than people of other religions?” A majority of all respondents, 52%, said worse.
That overall figure masks a wide partisan spread. Among Democrats, 72% said Muslims have been treated worse than people of other religions since 9/11. Independents were split closer to the overall average at 57%. Republicans came in far lower, at 28% — a 44-point gap between the two parties on the same question.
Q17 asked whether Sept. 11 “should be a national holiday to commemorate those who died in the attacks on that day in 2001.” Overall, 51% said yes, 26% said no, and 22% weren't sure. Here the partisan order flips from the earlier questions: 62% of Republicans favored a national holiday, versus 49% of independents and 43% of Democrats — meaning Democrats, who were more likely to say the country already focuses too much on Sept. 11, were also the least supportive of formalizing its remembrance as a holiday.
A fourth question, Q9, asked whether the military operations and increased domestic security and surveillance the U.S. undertook after 9/11 have “been worth the cost.” Among Republicans, 71% said yes and 12% said no. Among Democrats, the answer was nearly an even split: 37% said worth the cost, 35% said not worth the cost.
Q14: “In your opinion, do the American people currently focus too much or too little on the memory of the events of Sept. 11, 2001?”
Q12: “Since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, do you think Muslims in the United States have been treated better, about the same, or worse than people of other religions?”
Q17: “Do you think that September 11th should be a national holiday to commemorate those who died in the attacks on that day in 2001?”
Q9: “Since Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has fought against the threat of terrorism through military operations abroad and increased security and surveillance inside of the United States. Do you think these actions have been worth the cost?”
YouGov published its own writeup of the survey on August 31, 2026, authored by Carl Bialik and Taylor Orth, under the headline “What Americans think about the Sept. 11 attacks, 25 years later.” The New York Post's front-page treatment one day later, and the wave of conservative-outlet coverage that followed through the anniversary week, all drew on that same underlying dataset rather than on any competing survey.
No specific pundit or elected official has been recorded reacting to this poll by name as of publication — the coverage cycle has run almost entirely on the numbers themselves rather than on commentary about them. Separately, and using its own independent methodology, the nonpartisan Pew Research Center published a short read on September 3, 2026 finding that most Americans' memories of the Sept. 11 attacks remain vivid a quarter-century later, offering outside corroboration that the anniversary continues to register broadly across the public even as YouGov's data shows real disagreement over how much attention it should currently receive.
The pattern holds across all four questions YouGov asked. Democrats were more likely than Republicans to say the country focuses too much on Sept. 11, more likely to say Muslims have borne unequal treatment since, less likely to want the day made a national holiday, and split roughly evenly on whether the post-9/11 wars and security buildup were worth it — while Republicans moved in the opposite direction on every measure. The gap is the finding; YouGov's topline data is the receipt.
