POLITICO notes an interesting finding in a new AP poll exploring national security and civil liberties concerns for Americans a decade after 9/11. That finding:
Americans don’t want the government snooping on their phone calls and emails, but a majority support full-body scans at airports to keep the U.S. safe, a new poll found on Tuesday.
Only 23 percent of those surveyed said they backed authorities listening in on calls made in the U.S. and 30 percent came down on the side of reading emails sent domestically without a warrant, the Associated Press poll on various security measures showed.
And from the AP report, it's encouraging that a majority would still err on the side of civil liberties after a full decade of elevation in the national debate of security over liberty.
A slim majority—54 percent—say that if they had to choose between preserving their rights and freedoms and protecting people from terrorists, they'd come down on the side of civil liberties. The public is particularly protective of the privacy of U.S. citizens, voicing sharp opposition to government surveillance of Americans' emails and phone calls.
That's an interesting distinction Americans make: that our thoughts and our speech are more important and more sacrosanct when it comes to privacy than our bodies, at least when it comes to full-body scans. Other mixed findings: The country is pretty sharply split over torture, with 52 percent saying it could be justified and 46 percent saying it could never or rarely be. We're a vengeful lot, but apparently still believe in the Constitution: "[O]nly 34 percent said the arrest and detention of suspected terrorists who are U.S. citizens for extended periods without being formally charged is acceptable."
From the poll report [pdf]:
We might actually be seeing the pendulum swing back in public opinion on the importance of protecting vital Constitutional protections, particularly when it comes to the conduct of our daily lives and communications. It would suggest that the efforts of senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mark Udall (D-CO) to shed light on government overreach on domestic surveillance could find solid public support.