WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Twenty-five years later, the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, are still remembered as among the most important historic events in many Americans\u2019 lives, according to a new poll.<\/p>\n
A new Ipsos poll<\/a> finds that about half of U.S. adults name the 9\/11 attacks in an open-ended question about the most important historic occurrences in their lifetimes. That\u2019s despite other momentous events that have happened since then, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the elections of Presidents Obama and Trump.<\/p>\n The polling points to the enduring legacy of 9\/11, even as many Americans today are too young to have experienced or comprehended the event a quarter century ago. Ipsos found that the vast majority of Americans remember where they were when they heard about the attacks, and about two-thirds of Americans say it impacted the country \u201ca great deal.\u201d Separate polling from Gallup<\/a> finds about 3 in 10 U.S. adults say they permanently changed the way they live their lives because of the attacks.<\/p>\n Despite the widespread impact, the Ipsos poll finds relatively few Americans will be marking the anniversary in some way. Only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults plans to do something to commemorate Friday\u2019s 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.<\/p>\n Kevin Noel, 51, remembers watching the catastrophe unfold after he got out of a subway station to head to work near the World Trade Center that morning. To this day, the smell of the deadly inferno comes back to him whenever he\u2019s in the area. He views 9\/11 as the most historic event he\u2019s lived through and believes \u201cwe\u2019re going to be remembering this for the rest of history.\u201d He plans to reflect on it privately on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery Sept. 11, I just \u2014 it\u2019s a traumatic day for me where I just go silent,\u201d Noel said.<\/p>\n The 9\/11 attacks top the list of historic events in many Americans\u2019 lifetime<\/p>\n For Americans who can remember the Sept. 11 attacks, they were a defining moment.<\/p>\n When U.S. adults were asked to list up to five of the most important historic events in their lifetime in the open-ended question — where respondents answered in their own words — the Sept. 11 attacks overshadowed the much more recent COVID-19 pandemic, which 31% of U.S. adults mentioned.<\/p>\n Other events, including the elections of Trump and Obama, space expeditions and the fall of the Berlin Wall, were cited by many Americans as defining moments. For Americans 65 and older, the most frequently mentioned events were the Sept. 11 attacks, followed by President John F. Kennedy\u2019s assassination, space expeditions and the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n Clara Kiel, 88, says World War II had more impact on her life personally, as it hung over her childhood and she knew people who served. But she recalls the shock of watching 9\/11 happen on TV from her living room. She also plans to take a moment to reflect privately on the 25th anniversary.<\/p>\n \u201cIt always seems like there\u2019s something in history that changes the way people think,\u201d said Kiel, a retired secretary in Onamia, Minnesota. \u201c9\/11 did it for the generation that grew up through that.\u201d<\/p>\n For younger Americans under 35, COVID-19 is more prominent. About half of U.S. adults under 35 say the pandemic was among the most impactful events of their lifetime, while about one-third mention 9\/11. A significant share of younger adults were not born when the attacks happened, or were too young to remember where they were at the time.<\/p>\n