Thursday, May 11, 2006
Strong Support for NSA Phone Surveillance
Despite a day of media hyperventilation over the National Security Agency's program to collect information on domestic phone calls, a new poll finds the American people back the operation by overwhelming numbers.
In a survey taken yesterday after USA Today blew the cover on the program, 63 percent of those surveyed said they supported the records gathering operation, with 44 percent saying they "strongly" endorsed it.
Just 35 percent said they were opposed to the collection of phone records by the government, with a mere 24 percent saying they "strongly" objected to it.
65 percent of those surveyed told ABC/Post pollsters that it was more important to investigate potential terrorist threats "even if it intrudes on privacy."
A slight majority - 51 percent - said President Bush had done a good job surveilling terrorists without abusing the privacy rights of Americans.
502 randomly selected adults were interviewed by the Post and ABC News Thursday night, giving the survey a margin of error of +/- 5 points.
Despite a day of media hyperventilation over the National Security Agency's program to collect information on domestic phone calls, a new poll finds the American people back the operation by overwhelming numbers.
In a survey taken yesterday after USA Today blew the cover on the program, 63 percent of those surveyed said they supported the records gathering operation, with 44 percent saying they "strongly" endorsed it.
Just 35 percent said they were opposed to the collection of phone records by the government, with a mere 24 percent saying they "strongly" objected to it.
65 percent of those surveyed told ABC/Post pollsters that it was more important to investigate potential terrorist threats "even if it intrudes on privacy."
A slight majority - 51 percent - said President Bush had done a good job surveilling terrorists without abusing the privacy rights of Americans.
502 randomly selected adults were interviewed by the Post and ABC News Thursday night, giving the survey a margin of error of +/- 5 points.
