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THE HARRIS POLL #49,
October 3, 2001
Overwhelming
Public Support For Increasing Surveillance Powers And, In Spite Of Many Concerns
About Potential Abuses, Confidence That These Powers Would Be Used Properly
______________________________________
by Humphrey Taylor
In the aftermath of the
terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, there is
overwhelming public support for giving the FBI and the police a broad range of
new powers to increase security and make it easier for them to detect terrorism,
identify and catch terrorists. At the same time, there are real concerns that
these powers might be abused. When asked about ten specific proposals for new
surveillance powers, more than 90% of the public supports three of them, between
80% and 90% support three more, and the rest are supported by between 54% and
68%.
These proposals, with the
percentages of those that support and oppose them, include:
- The use of
facial-recognition technology to scan for suspected terrorists (by 86% to
11%).
- Closer monitoring of
banking and credit card transactions (by 81% to 17%).
- A national I.D. system
(by 68% to 28%).
- Expanded camera
surveillance on streets and public places (by 63% to 35%).
- Monitoring of Internet
discussions and chat rooms (by 63% to 32%).
- Expanded monitoring of
cell phones and emails (by 54% to 41%.).
These are the results of The
Harris Poll®, a nationwide poll of 1,012 adults surveyed by telephone
between September 19–24, 2001.
As these new powers for law
enforcement officials might be abused, between 68% and 79% of the public have at
least "moderate" concern about seven possible abuses. However, only
between 32% and 44% have a "high" level of concern. Furthermore, the
great majority of the public (87%) is at least somewhat confident that these new
powers would be used "in a proper way."
Concerns include:
- The profiling of people
and searching them based on nationality, race or religion (44% highly
concerned).
- That the mail, telephone
calls, emails or cell phone calls of innocent people would be checked (45%
highly concerned).
- That non-violent critics
of governments would have their mail, telephone, email or cell phone
messages tapped (38% highly concerned).
- That law enforcement
would investigate legitimate political and social groups (32% highly
concerned).
However – notwithstanding
these concerns – the national mood, following the attacks of September 11th,
is far more willing to accept tough surveillance methods than it probably was
previously.
These questions were
designed with Dr. Alan Westin, one of the nation's leading experts on privacy
issues and privacy related legislation, who believes that, "While heavy
public majorities support expanding the powers of law enforcement to combat
terrorism, three out of four Americans also want this to be done with
legislative, judicial, and administrative safeguards built in. The prime survey
message is: Proceed—but with great care."
Humphrey Taylor is the
Chairman of The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive.
TABLE 1
FAVOR/OPPOSE
TEN PROPOSALS FOR INCREASED LAW ENFORCEMENT POWERS
"Here
are some increased powers of investigation that law enforcement agencies might
use when dealing with people suspected of terrorist activity, which would also
affect our civil liberties. For each, please say if you would favor or oppose
it."
Base: All respondents
| |
|
Favor |
Oppose |
Not
sure/ Decline to Answer |
|
Expanded under-cover
activities to penetrate groups under suspicion |
% |
93 |
5 |
1 |
|
Stronger document and
physical security checks for travelers |
% |
93 |
6 |
1 |
|
Stronger document and
physical security checks for access to government and private office
buildings |
% |
92 |
7 |
1 |
|
Use of
facial-recognition technology to scan for suspected terrorists at various
locations and public events |
% |
86 |
11 |
2 |
|
Issuance of a secure
I.D. technique for persons to access government and business computer
systems, to avoid disruptions |
% |
84 |
11 |
4 |
|
Closer monitoring of
banking and credit card transactions, to trace funding sources |
% |
81 |
17 |
2 |
|
Adoption of a national
I.D. system for all U.S. citizens |
% |
68 |
28 |
4 |
|
Expanded camera
surveillance on streets and in public places |
|
63 |
35 |
2 |
|
Law enforcement
monitoring of Internet discussions in chat rooms and other forums |
% |
63 |
32 |
5 |
|
Expanded government
monitoring of cell phones and email, to intercept communications |
% |
54 |
41 |
4 |
TABLE 2
LEVELS OF
CONCERN ABOUT SEVEN POTENTIAL ABUSES OF POWER
"Now,
here are some concerns that people might have about the way these increased
powers might be used by law enforcement. Would you say you have high concern,
moderate concern, not much concern, or no concern at all about each of the
following possibilities?
Base: All respondents
| |
|
High
Concern |
Moderate
Concern |
Not
Much Concern |
No
Concern at All |
Not
Sure/ Decline to Answer |
TOTAL
CONCERN
(High +
Moderate) |
|
Judges who authorize
investigations, would not look closely enough at the justification of that
surveillance |
% |
44 |
35 |
11 |
7 |
2 |
79 |
|
Congress would not
include adequate safeguards for civil liberties when authorizing these
increased powers |
% |
39 |
39 |
12 |
8 |
2 |
78 |
|
There would be broad
profiling of people and searching them based on their nationality, race or
religion |
% |
44 |
33 |
11 |
10 |
1 |
78 |
|
The mail, telephone,
emails or cell phone calls of innocent people would be checked |
% |
45 |
27 |
13 |
14 |
1 |
72 |
|
Non-violent critics of
government policies would have their mail, telephone, emails or cell phone
calls checked |
% |
38 |
33 |
14 |
14 |
* |
71 |
|
Law enforcement would
investigate legitimate political and social groups |
% |
32 |
36 |
16 |
15 |
1 |
68 |
|
New surveillance
powers would be used to investigate crimes other than terrorism |
% |
32 |
35 |
15 |
16 |
1 |
68 |
TABLE 3
CONFIDENCE
THAT SURVEILLANCE POWERS IN PROPER WAY
"Overall,
how confident do you feel that U.S. law enforcement will use its expanded
surveillance powers in what you would see as a proper way, under the
circumstances of terrorist threats? Would you say very confident, somewhat
confident, not very confident, not confident at all?"
Base: All respondents
| |
Total
% |
|
Very confident |
34 |
|
Somewhat confident |
53 |
|
Not very confident |
8 |
|
Not confident at all |
4 |
|
Not sure/Decline to
answer |
1 |
Methodology
This issue of The Harris
Poll was conducted by telephone within the United States between September
19–24, 2001 among a nationwide cross section of 1,012 adults. Figures for age,
sex, race, education, number of adults and number of voice/telephone lines in
the household were weighted where necessary to align them with their actual
proportions in the population.
In theory,
with a probability sample of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty
that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 3 percentage
points of what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with
complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of
error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical
calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed
(non-response), question wording and question order, interviewer bias, weighting
by demographic control data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is
difficult or impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these
factors.
These statements conform to
the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
____________________________________________________________
J15003
Q580, Q590-595
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