Poll: Americans warier of surveillance tactics
Scope of US monitoring stirs bipartisan concerns
– As the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks approaches, Americans increasingly balk at intrusive government surveillance in the name of national security, and only about a third believe that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were worth fighting, according to a new poll.
The poll by The Associated PRESSNORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that support for surveillance tools aimed at monitoring conversations taking place outside the country, once seen as vital in the fight against attacks, has dipped in the last decade. That’s even though international threats are again generating headlines following the chaotic end to the 20-year war in Afghanistan.
In particular, 46% of Americans say they oppose the U.S. government responding to threats against the nation by reading emails sent between people outside of the U.S. without a warrant, as permitted under law for purposes of foreign intelligence collection. That’s compared to just 27% who are in favor. In an AP-NORC poll conducted one decade ago, more favored than opposed the practice, 47% to 30%.
The new poll was conducted Aug. 1216 as the Taliban were marching toward their rapid takeover of the country. Since then, Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate launched a suicide bombing that killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members, and experts have warned about the possibility of foreign militant groups rebuilding in strength with the U.S. presence gone.
In a marked turnabout from the first years after Sept. 11, when Americans were more likely to tolerate the government’s monitoring of communications in the name of defending the homeland, the poll found bipartisan concerns about the scope of surveillance and the expansive intelligence collection tools that U.S. authorities have to use.
The expansion in government eavesdropping powers over the last 20 years has coincided with a similar growth in surveillance technology, including traffic cameras, smart TVS and other devices that contribute to a near-universal sense of being watched.
Americans are also more likely to oppose government eavesdropping on calls outside the U.S. without a warrant, 44% to 28%. Another 27% hold neither opinion.
About two-thirds of Americans CONWASHINGTON tinue to be opposed to the possibility of warrantless U.S. government monitoring of telephone calls, emails and text messages made within the U.S. Though the National Security Agency is focused on surveillance abroad, it does have the ability to collect the communications of Americans as they’re in touch with someone outside the country who is a target of government surveillance.
About half are opposed to government monitoring of internet searches, including those by U.S. citizens, without a warrant. About a quarter are in favor, and 2 in 10 hold neither opinion. Roughly half supported the practice a decade ago.
Despite general surveillance concerns, 6 in 10 Americans support the installation of surveillance cameras in public places to monitor potentially suspicious activity – although somewhat fewer support random searches like full-body scans for people boarding commercial flights in the U.S.
The AP-NORC poll of 1,729 adults was conducted Aug. 12-16 using a sample drawn from NORC’S probabilitybased Amerispeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.