While the number of deaths due to terrorist attacks may be lower than other ways of dying such as auto accidents or bathtubs as President Obama famously has said, fear of terror attacks is very real. If you’re interested in knowing how real, check out Google’s Search suggestions for some of the major cities which have had attacks in the past year. I am sure I have left some out but in every case the city is followed by the suggested word, “shooting.”
This tells us the fear of terrorism is extremely high and the candidate the public feels is most likely to protect them from this threat may be the winner.
Sure, there are other issues when it comes to voting but as we can see above, these terror attacks are the most important happenings in each of these cities. This of course is a single data point but an important one nonetheless.