While campus opinion largely reflected those of most Americans in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Harvard students had stronger reservations on when the U.S. should take military action.

Maame A. A. Banful ’05 is part of the minority that does not support any type of military action.

“I’m from Africa and miltary action, it never works,” Banful said. “Those responsible for whatever action, they’re never going to be touched. It’s going to be innocent people who get in the way.”

But Susannah P. Morse ’03 defended the need for some sort of limited military action, considering the severity of the attacks.

“It’s important to bring justice,” Morse said.

The Political Divide

Much of the nation has become united since the Sept. 11 attacks, with a surge of patriotism causing most—including members of Congress—to put aside political differences.

National polls show that most Democrats, Republicans and independents support the same policies in response to the terrorist attacks.

But unlike the rest of the country, this weekend’s Crimson poll shows that political affiliation made a major difference in the opinions of Harvard students.

While 65 percent of Democrats and 66 percent of independents were in favor of military action against those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, a near-unanimous 94 percent of Republicans favored military action.

Whether innocent people would be killed in any military action greatly affected the opinions of Democrats and independents, however, with 60 and 54 percent respectively saying they opposed military action if that were the case.

In contrast, only 28 percent of Republicans were against military action if innocent people would be killed.

And while only 42 percent of Democrats supported taking military action if it meant going to war with another nation harboring those responsible for the attacks, 50 percent of independents and an even greater number of Republicans—76 percent—said they would support war with another nation harboring terrorists.

Marcie B. Bianco ’02, president of the Harvard College Democrats, said she was surprised by the large difference of opinion between party affiliations, but said it most likely traces to basic issue positions, with Democrats less supportive of military action than Republicans.

“[President] Bush is acting like he’s Captain America, going on television and telling Americans that there has to be a strong military response,” Bianco said. “[But] we don’t know who we’re going to war against yet. There’s no specific thing to target, except terrorism.”