Boston Marathon Explosion News: Polls Show Americans Less Willing to Give Up Civil Liberties to Stop Terrorism

The bombing of the Boston Marathon was the first successful terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, and American seem to be getting tougher.

In the aftermath of the bombings and the subsequent killing and capture of the perpetrators, new polls show that while respondents are concerned about future attacks and believe they are likely, more Americans are unwilling to give up civil liberties in exchange for greater safety.

A large majority of Americans -- 70 percent in a Washington Post poll and 75 percent in a Pew Research Center poll -- think there will be more attacks, but as a whole, Americans aren't changing their behavior, avoiding crowds or even feeling particularly threatened.

Fewer than 40 percent of Americans expect an attack near them, a number that sounds low, though considering the odds, it's actually still pretty high.

For the first time, polls show Americans want to preserve civil liberties, even if it means the threat of terrorism could be greater. In a Fox News poll, 45 percent of respondents said they wouldn't give up personal freedom in exchange for additional safety. Still, 43 percent said they would.

But the Washington Post poll showed 48 percent of Americans worry the government will compromise constitutional rights in its pursuit of terrorism, while 41 percent said they were more worried about terrorism than any potential infringement of their rights.

Are Americans becoming more acquainted with terrorism, and thereby less afraid of it and its repercussions? We may be turning more stoic, moving away from the fiery idealism of the post-9/11 days when we were told we could stamp out all extremism wherever it lay.

This can be seen in the response to the Boston bombings. There  have been no calls to round up Muslims, or Chechens, or disaffected college students like the ones who planted the bombs.

When police ordered a "shelter in place" order that shut the city down for nearly an entire day, almost everyone complied, with little grumbling about overreaching, because the police response felt reasonable. It was lifted even before the last bomber was found, because life must go on, according to the chief of Boston's police department himself.

This more stoic response to tragedy may mean America is growing up. Sometimes bad things happen to good people; maybe we're beginning to realize we don't need to do it to ourselves.