A whopping 71 percent of Americans believe that the shootings and random acts of violence that have taken place this year are now a permanent part of American life, according to results from a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
That's compared with just 21 percent of Americans who think the violence this year -- from Charleston, S.C., and Oregon, to the terrorist shootings in San Bernardino, Calif. -- has been unusual and won't happen as often in the future.
The NBC/WSJ poll also finds 29 percent of Americans saying they're either "very" or "fairly" worried that they or a loved one will be the victim of a terrorist attack -- up from the 28 percent who said this in Sept. 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Seventy percent, however, say they're not worried or are only slightly worried about this happening.
By comparison, 32 percent say they're worried that they or a loved one will be the victim of gun violence, versus 67 percent who aren't as worried.
The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted Dec. 6-9 of 1,000 adults (nearly 400 reached by cell phone), and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points.
