No other problem scored higher — and it was the highest such number for terrorism in 10 years. Gallup also found in December that 51 percent of people polled said they were “very worried” or “somewhat worried” that they or someone in their family would become a victim of terrorism, the highest reading since right after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

The chances that an American will become a victim of terrorism are tiny, about the same odds that a heavy piece of furniture will crush them to death. People may implicitly recognize this because they are not leading crimped, fearful lives. The vigils after the Orlando massacre are an immediate example of this.

Nor do traditional economic indicators, like consumer spending, show evidence of a cowering population. In April, inflation-adjusted personal consumption expenditures rose 3 percent compared with a year earlier, which is considerably higher than the 2.2 percent average for the previous five years. This makes sense. Economists from the University of Southern California and the University of Alabama found that large, diverse economies can absorb and adapt to terrorist attacks. Fears that companies and consumers would freeze spending for a long time did not come to pass after Sept. 11.

Today, Americans are still traveling abroad in large numbers. Last year, 12.6 million Americans traveled to Europe, up 13.5 percent from 11.1 million in 2010, according to data from the Commerce Department. Just over two million people traveled to the Middle East in 2015, a big jump from 1.3 million in 2010. And in January and February this year, the most recent numbers available, travel to Europe was up 7 percent compared with the year-earlier figures, and up 11 percent to the Middle East.

Large sporting events, potential targets for terrorists, as the attacks in Paris in November showed, are still hugely popular. Attendance at National Football League games totaled 34.9 million people last year, an increase from 33.1 million in 2010.