Most Americans support NSA tracking phone records, prioritize investigations over privacy

[Douglas Carpenter]

Let me say for the record - I do not agree with this. I think the extent of the surveillance program is most disturbing, And I find it even more disturbing that it has broad popular support including among most Democrats - But this is what I expected. Fear of terrorist attack - both legitimate fear and trumped up fear - has been pushed so heavily especially since September 11, 2001 - I would have expected most Americans to be willing to sacrifice a fair amount of their privacy and freedom for a bit more sense of security. We also see in this poll the affect of partisanship with Democrats and Republicans reversing their positions depending on whether their party is in or out of the White House

By Jon Cohen,

Tuesday, June 11, 6:30 AM

A large majority of Americans say the federal government should focus on investigating possible terrorist threats even if personal privacy is compromised, and most support the blanket tracking of telephone records in an effort to uncover terrorist activity, according to a new Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll.

Overall, 56 percent of all Americans see the NSA’s accessing telephone call records of millions of Americans through secret court orders as “acceptable;” 41 percent call the practice “unacceptable.” In 2006, when news broke of the NSA’s monitoring telephone and e-mail communications without court approval, there was initially a closer 51 percent to 47 percent divide on the practice.

General priorities also are similar to 2006: 62 percent of Americans now say it’s more important for the federal government to investigate terrorist threats, even if those investigations intrude on personal privacy; 34 percent say privacy should be the focus, regardless of the effect on such investigations.

But with a Democratic president at the helm instead of a Republican, partisan views have turned around significantly.

Fully 69 percent of Democrats say terrorism investigations should be the government’s main concern, not privacy, an 18-percentage-point jump from early January 2006, when the NSA activity under the Bush administration was first reported. Compared with that time, Republicans’ focus on privacy has jumped 22 points.

The reversal is even more dramatic on the NSA’s practices. In early 2006, just 37 percent of Democrats found the NSA’s activities acceptable; now nearly twice that number — 64 percent — say the use of telephone records is okay. By contrast, Republicans slumped from 75 percent acceptable to 52 percent today.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/most-americans-support-nsa-tracking-phone-records-prioritize-investigations-over-privacy/2013/06/10/51e721d6-d204-11e2-9f1a-1a7cdee20287_story.html

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Land of the ???...home of the ??? ???

[magellan]

2. I wonder what they'd say if they knew email and phone conversations

...are available for scrutiny as well?

[Luminous Animal]

4. So few have any sort of cosistency or integrity.

[BlueCheese]

5. Talk about depressing.

But then again, the Founding Fathers realized that certain civil liberties would be unpopular, which is why we have a Bill of Rights that is extremely hard to amend. I seem to remember a majority of Americans would love to ban flag burning and institute school prayer, for example, and probably not be so fond of letting accused criminals go on a technicality.

I also think the phrasing of the question could skew the results. If the question was more personal, it might produce different results, i.e. "Do you think it is acceptable or unacceptable for the government to store records of every phone call you and every other American makes within the United States or internationally, for an indefinite period of time, even if the government does not suspect you of any wrongdoing whatsoever?"

[Malik Agar]

6. Guess what? They're MY RIGHTS...

I don't give a fuck if everybody else would rather be anal probed by the government. I have rights set forth in the Bill of Rights/Constitution and I REFUSE to give them up...


(oh God, I sound like a Teabagger now)

[reformist2]

7. I don't believe that poll. Not for a second. Talk about propaganda...