Did the American public understand the gravity of WW2 during the 1940's?

by JadedToon

From a European point of view, the war had never really reached the mainland of the USA. The closest it got was Pearl Harbour, so keeping that in mind, the public would have only heard and read about it. Meanwhile the whole of Europe saw it and lived it.

Did they just go about their everyday, sometimes not thinking about it all or did they follow news reports? I understand America is very large with differing mentalities, but was there any general census?

Georgy_K_Zhukov

I'm not entirely sure if this is what you mean, but insofar as following news reports goes, this older answer should be of interest for you.