Majority of U.S. Adults Feel President is Justified in Authorizing Wiretaps Without Court Approval to Monitor Suspected Terrorists

Although almost half (47%) of U.S. adults are not familiar with the National Security Agency program that involves monitoring communications of people in the United States suspected of having ties with terrorist organizations, a clear majority (69%) of U.S. adults believe that President Bush is sometimes or often justified in authorizing wiretaps without court authorization. Concurrently, adults give the Bush administration a modest approval rating in preventing a terrorist attack in the United States since September 11, 2001, though this rating is substantially lower than the approval ratings given in 2004.

These are the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 1,016 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone by Harris Interactive^® between February 7 and 14, 2006.

Some of the key findings from this survey include:

• Two-thirds (66%) of U.S. adults think it is likely that there will be a major terrorist attack in this country in the next 12 months. This is a sharp increase from June 2005, when 55 percent U.S. adults thought this was likely.
• By 52 to 48 percent, a slim majority of U.S. adults feel that the Bush administration has done an excellent (25%) or pretty good job (27%) of preventing a terrorist attack since September 11, 2001. Since February 2004, there has been steady erosion in the percentage of adults saying the Bush administration has done an excellent or pretty good job of preventing a major terrorist attack on the United States. Two years ago, a larger majority (70%) felt the Bush administration was doing a pretty good or excellent job.

The Harris Poll also explored U.S. adults’ knowledge and opinions of the fact that President Bush has authorized, without court approval, the National Security Administration to monitor telephone calls and emails between people in the United States suspected of having ties with terrorist organizations. Considering the media has reported heavily on this topic, it may come as a surprise that just over half (52%) of adults report being either very (13%) or somewhat (40%) familiar with this program. The remaining 47 percent say that they are either not very familiar (24%) or not familiar at all (24%).

Nonetheless, the president can take some consolation in the fact that almost seven in 10 (68%) adults think that he is justified in authorizing wiretaps without court authorization. A substantial 43 percent think the president is often justified, with another quarter (25%) saying that he is sometimes justified. Less than one-third (31%) say that the president is not justified, with 13 percent saying he is rarely justified and 18 percent saying he is never justified.

• As one might expect, most Republicans (92%) say that the president is either often (67%) or sometimes (25%) justified in authorizing wiretaps without court authorization. Independents also support the president on this issue, with seven in 10 (70%) saying he is justified. However, what is perhaps most surprising is that Democrats appear to be split on this issue, with half (50%) saying he is justified and half (49%) saying he is not justified.
• Among adults who are familiar with the NSA program, 48 percent say that the president is often justified, and another 21 percent say he is sometimes justified. The results are similar for those who are not familiar with the program, though those who say the president is often justified is 10 percentage points lower at 38 percent, and those who say he is sometimes justified is nine percentage points higher at 30 percent.

Reflecting on these results, Dr. Alan F. Westin of Columbia University and president of Privacy and American Business states: "Despite heavy criticism by civil liberties supporters, the Bush administration’s warrantless monitoring of overseas calls by suspected terrorists is now clearly viewed as often or sometimes justified by more than two out of three Americans. However, I believe the current move in Congress to create a new and updated court review procedure fitting the realities of terrorist communication activities would also command strong majority support. It would tap into the majority belief that judicial review of executive surveillance operations, if it does not hamstring anti-terrorist investigations, still represents the essential American way of administering government surveillance operations."

"How would you rate the job that the Bush administration has done preventing a terrorist attack in the United States since September 11, 2001 – excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?"

Base: All Adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

* Less than 0.5%

"How likely do you think it is that there will be a major terrorist attack in this country in the next 12 months?"

Base: All Adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

"How familiar are you with the National Security Administration’s program of monitoring telephone calls and emails between people in the U.S. suspected of having ties to al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations?"

Base: All Adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

* Less than 0.5%.

"President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to use wiretaps on U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism on their overseas calls, without court authorization. Do you think that in circumstances like this the president is often justified, sometimes justified, rarely justified or never justified in authorizing wiretaps on U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism on overseas calls without court authorization?"

Base: All Adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

* Less than 0.5%.

"President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to use wiretaps on U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism on their overseas calls, without court authorization. Do you think that in circumstances like this the president is often justified, sometimes justified, rarely justified or never justified in authorizing wiretaps on U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism on overseas calls without court authorization?"

Base: All Adults

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

* Less than 0.5%.

The Harris Poll^® was conducted by telephone within the United States between February 7 and 14, 2006 among a nationwide cross section of 1,016 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, number of adults, number of voice/telephone lines in the household, region and size of place 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 overall results have a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire U.S. adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Sampling error for the sub-samples of Republicans (334), Democrats (324), Independents (265), those familiar with the NSA program (587) and those not familiar with the NSA program (426) is higher and varies. 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 (nonresponse), question wording and question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic control data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors.

J26827

Q615, Q625, Q630, 640