Students Climate Change Protest New York (photo) | Zinn Education Project

In the Sept. 21, 2014 file photo thousands of young people fill the streets of Manhattan, New York, carrying banners and calling on policymakers to take action on climate change. According to a new Associated Press-GfK poll, conducted September 25-29, 2014, Americans lack confidence that their government can keep them safe from threats to their safety and economic security. More than half of those polled don’t think the U.S. government can do much to effectively minimize the threat posed by climate change, mass shootings, racial tensions, economic uncertainty on Wall Street and an unstable job market.