Americans worry anti-terror programs go too far, support them anyway, survey says

Washington — Americans believe that government surveillance programs collect far more information than even the widely reported recent leaks of classified data indicate, and they increasingly worry that the scope of antiterrorism programs has endangered civil liberties.

And yet Americans still narrowly approve of the “government’s collection of telephone and Internet data as part of anti-terrorism efforts,” with 50 percent approving and 44 percent disapproving, according to a newly released Pew Research Center survey.

A key to understanding the seemingly ambivalent attitudes: Among those who believe the programs go beyond their official descriptions, feature excessive secrecy or don’t receive enough oversight by courts, a significant minority nonetheless approves of them. Those who believe the programs perform as advertised support them overwhelmingly.

Asked if they are more concerned that the government’s anti- terrorism surveillance programs go too far and endanger civil liberties or don’t go far enough to protect the country, 47 percent say their chief worry is that the programs go too far, compared with 35 percent who worry they don’t go far enough.

It’s the first time since Pew began asking that question in 2004 that more Americans put concern about civil liberties above concern about the ability of government programs to protect the country against terrorism.