93% Say Fall of Berlin Wall Important Event In World History

Seventy percent (70%) of U.S. voters rate the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism as Very Important in terms of world history.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows another 23% see the events as somewhat important. Just four percent (4%) of voters say the fall of the wall around Berlin and the collapse of communism were not very or not at all important.

The Berlin Wall was built by the communist East Germans to surround the free city of West Berlin. It was in place from 1961 to 1989 and came to symbolize the barrier between democratic Western Europe and Soviet-dominated communist Eastern Europe.

Eighty-four percent (84%) of voters also identified President Ronald Reagan as the man who famously declared, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."

Reagan's challenge to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was issued on June 12, 1987, but it wasn't until November 9, 1989, that the East German government announced that the border was open, effectively "tearing down" the wall. Celebrating Germans on both sides then began physically tearing down the barrier. The communist Soviet Union itself lasted only last two more years.

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People from all across the political spectrum recognize the fall of the wall as important. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of conservatives view the events as Very Important, so do 59% of liberals.

Voters ages 18 to 29 are slightly less likely than their elders to view the collapse of communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall as Very Important. Younger adults are a bit less likely than their elders to identify Reagan as the source of the "tear down the wall" quotation. Seventeen percent of that youngest group say the first President Bush made the statement.

Forty-two percent (42%) percent say they have followed at least somewhat closely recent news stories about the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down, with 15% who have been following very closely. Twenty-one percent (21%) say they haven't been following those stories at all.

President Barack Obama has been criticized by some for not attending the celebrations in Berlin this week to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall. He gave a highly publicized speech in Berlin during the Presidential campaign. Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters rated that speech as good or excellent.

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This national telephone survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports November 5-6, 2009. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence (see methodology).

Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.