Poll Says Most Americans Support NSA’s Program (UPDATED)

A Washington Post/ABC News poll finds widespread support for the NSA’s phone data collection program:

A majority of Americans initially support a controversial National Security Agency program to collect information on telephone calls made in the United States in an effort to identify and investigate potential terrorist threats, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The new survey found that 63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism, including 44 percent who strongly endorsed the effort. Another 35 percent said the program was unacceptable, which included 24 percent who strongly objected to it.

A slightly larger majority–66 percent–said they would not be bothered if NSA collected records of personal calls they had made, the poll found.

From the poll, it sounds like many Americans have considered the tradeoff and are willing to give the government the benefit of the doubt:

Underlying those views is the belief that the need to investigate terrorism outweighs privacy concerns. According to the poll, 65 percent of those interviewed said it was more important to investigate potential terrorist threats “even if it intrudes on privacy.” Three in 10–31 percent–said it was more important for the federal government not to intrude on personal privacy, even if that limits its ability to investigate possible terrorist threats.

Half–51 percent–approved of the way President Bush was handling privacy matters.

Several things about this poll:

• This is an initial poll, so as in the case of President George Bush’s polling numbers the key is going to be to see what kind of trend a variety of polls shows.

• The Washington Post/ABC poll is not a fly-by-night poll so it is significant.
• Polls are like see-saws and are a snapshot in time. Will these results remain the same if more info (particularly negative) comes out?

And then there is this key point:

We regularly run polls on this site when we see a significant shift or part of a patter on something such as the Iraq war or President George Bush’s popularity. And there is a clear trend we’ve spotted when we do:

–If people (on the left or right) agree with a poll, it’s a solid, good poll and is meaningful.
–If they don’t agree with it, then they question its methodology, the question asked, or hint that the polling organization or news organization involved is doing the poll with a bias to try and hoodwink the public.
–But the people who question a poll (on the right and the left) will embrace a poll by the same company and news organization when it shows what they like and tout it far and wide.

In fact, if you tout one poll by an organization then it is also significant and presumably credible when you see one you don’t agree with.

This poll may suggest that Americans initially have no problems with the NSA program. However, there could be a still be a spillover contributing to this administration’s credibility problems — particularly if more damaging information surfaces.

Will more info surface? Information is coming out that was kept from the American public. The hearings for General Michael Hayden for new CIA chief are coming up. Plus other hearings. More details could be forthcoming.

So this poll is likely an accurate first reading (after all WE have cited these same polls before on other issues and there’s no reason for us now to suddenly assume they are fraudulent or way off base). What happens as American absorb more information? When other polls come in on this issue it will be easier to determine an actual trend.

The Left Coaster’s Steve Soto has a MUST READ POST where he deals with this issue (see his update to readers) of not just the poll but taking the poll seriously. He is not trying to dismiss it but looking at it and analzying it:

In choosing which issues to use against this White House and the GOP in the fall campaign, those of us on the center-left must be prepared for the possibility that the country doesn’t see the NSA data mining and wiretapping programs with the same degree of alarm as we do. A quick ABC News/Washington Post poll done yesterday (with a relatively large margin of error of 4.5 points) found that the public isn’t concerned with having the NSA data mine the nation’s telephone calls, and that by a 2-1 margin, respondents weren’t concerned with the government tracking their calls. In fact, 45% of Democrats and 6 in 10 independents support what they have heard so far.

We can raise red flags all we want on our side of the aisle about the violation of basic freedoms and privacy that are front and center with the Bush Administration’s behavior here. But in this post-9/11 world run by an administration that has manipulated fear to a point that a large number of Americans are scared children who would rather give up some rights in order to be protected from the bad guy under the bed, it appears that the public is fine with intrusive and illegal programs like these until it is shown that Bush did something with this information other than build a database to be used in identifying suspect calling patterns.

Read it in its entirety.

UPDATE: Mystery Pollster has an interestings analysis that suggests this issue could actually help GWB, in an unexpected way. A small part of it 4 U:

Yes, this survey involves a relatively small sample size (502 adults) with a slightly larger margin of error than other national polls (+/- 4.5%). And yes, calling was completed in a single evening, a practice would have missed those not at home last night and possibly overrepresented those watching the news on television last night. However, the findings are generally consistent with previous polling on the NSA domestic eavesdropping. It is also worth remembering that the brief upward movement in President Bush’s job approval rating coincided with the disclosure of the stories on NSA wiretaps in January.

MP makes no predictions, but Bush can only stand to gain if the public’s attention shifts from his handling of gas prices, the economy, immigration and Iraq to his administration’s efforts to “investigate terrorism.” The Post-ABC poll found that 51% approve (and 47% disapprove) of “the way Bush is handling Protecting Americans’ privacy rights as the government investigates terrorism.” That is “hardly a robust rating,” as the ABC release puts it, “but one that’s far better than his overall job approval, in the low 30s in recent polls.”

Meanwhile, Rasmussen Reports finds Bush’s job approval rating is still in the South Pole.