News of last week's foiled airline terror plot in London served as a stark reminder that the War on Terror continues in earnest.  And that reminder certainly has captured the public's attention.  Nearly half (45%) of all Americans say they followed the story of the Heathrow Airport plot very closely.  Another 34% say they've been paying at least somewhat close attention. A mere handful (4%) report not following the story at all.

News of the elaborate terror plot-perhaps combined with the timing of the upcoming fifth anniversary of 9/11-seems to have pushed Americans' terrorism fears back to the surface.  Thirty-five percent (35%) believe that another terror attack in the U.S. within the year is very likely.  In sharp contrast, only 2% say an attack is very unlikely.

Forty-one percent (41%) of Americans believe current security screening procedures are "not strict enough." An equal percentage say the security measure are "about right."  Only 10% say they are too strict.

Even though counterterrorism officials were able to break up the plan to take down several aircraft with on-board liquid explosives before it could be implemented, only 38% of adult respondents believe the U.S. and its allies are winning the war on terror.  Thirty percent (30%) say the terrorists are winning and 23% say neither side has the advantage.  These numbers are largely unchanged from the previous Rasmussen Reports survey on the war on terror taken at the beginning of August, in which 39% of respondents said the U.S. and its allies were on the winning track.

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Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade.