TIME/CNN Poll Shows Increasing Number Of Americans Won't Give Up Civil Liberties To Fight Terrorism
from the the-government-can't-give-you-safety,-but-it-can-take-your-rights dept
When discussing NYPD Police Chief Ray Kelly's assertion that "privacy is off the table" as a result of the Boston bombing, I mentioned I hadn't heard any public outcry demanding the government and law enforcement step in and do something (i.e., curtail civil liberties) in response to the tragedy. The responses we were seeing seemed to be nothing more than legislators and law enforcement officials pushing their own agendas.
This isn't just me not hearing what I don't want to hear. There's actual data available that explains the lack of concerned noises from Americans. A CNN/TIME poll shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans aren't interested in sacrificing rights to combat terrorism.
When given a choice, 61 percent of Americans say they are more concerned about the government enacting new anti-terrorism policies that restrict civil liberties, compared to 31 percent who say they are more concerned about the government failing to enact strong new anti-terrorism policies.This is a vast improvement over 1996, when a post-Atlanta Olympics bombing poll showed only 23% opposed giving up freedom in exchange for fighting terrorism.
Breaking it down further, the poll also shows a bit of split along party lines. Self-identified Democrats are most likely to put their faith in government/law enforcement to make the U.S. "safer" by curtailing freedoms (51%). Republicans are less likely to favor this exchange (41%). For independents, less than a third (32%) are willing to give up some freedom to combat terrorism.
There is a bit of bad news contained within this generally positive indicator that Americans are less willing to give up something of theirs in exchange for the vagaries of "safety." The percentage of respondents who support additional surveillance in public areas has increased to 81% from 63% the week after the 9/11 attacks. On the other hand, there's a growing reluctance among Americans to allow the government to expand its surveillance efforts to cover more private venues, like email or cell phones. Only 38% approve of these efforts, down from 54% after 9/11.
Now, when legislators and law enforcement reps make strides towards reducing civil liberties, they do have some support. Those over the age of 50 (across all political parties) are most likely to support a loss of freedom (50%, as compared to only 34% for those under 50). Tellingly, this is pretty much the same demographic that feels video games are a bigger "safety threat" than guns (72% of respondents over the age of 45).
Unfortunately for the under-50 crowd, the over-50 demographic is historially the most active at the polls. If this perception of widespread support for invasive policies and legislation is going to change, the under-50 demographic is going to need to do a whole lot more voting. If not, these politicians are going to be able to truthfully say they have support for these policies -- at least, the only support that matters: die-hard voters.
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Filed Under: civil liberties, fear, fud, terrorism, the public
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Them damn terrorist
The only terrorists I'm afraid of are the ones running our countrySubscribe: RSS
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Species Issue
(this comment is "BYO punchline")
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Re: Species Issue
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Big brother has gotten too big for it's britches.
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I am a senior but that has nothing to do with my political views or my views on the safety of our country from a minuscule terrorist threat, unless you count the fact that the longer I inhabit this planet the more cynical I become of institutional motives, be they political or business institutions.
Windy I know, but that's what you get when your old and can't sleep. Statistics and polling are nothing but a game anyway. The stats themselves can be massaged in many ways and the questions asked and how they are asked are the first bit of massaging, then katie bar the door when the stat math takes over.
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You kids get off my lawn!
...because I'm too busy playing violent FPS video games to chase you off.
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As for the article above - well, good! Glad to see people are growing conscious of privacy concerns. If the government had real validity in their claims, surely someone would explain the snooping process in more detail to the U.S. citizenry, or at least provide a smidgen of transparency beyond the current state of affairs.
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And me without my soma...
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They must be terrorists then.
They will be brought to justice, even if the laws must be broken to do so.
btw ... when were our civil rights ever "on the table" anyway? I do not recall any negotiations, nor do I recall being given anything in return for what has been taken.
Soon Bloomberg's private army will be goose stepping through Times Square gleefully stopping and frisking to their hearts content, because - who needs laws anyway?
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Yet
Polls can be made to say almost anything you want. What was the exact question used, and how did it vary from previous surveys?
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Logic fail
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29% Of Americans Believe Armed Revolution May Be Needed [POLL]
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Re: 29% Of Americans Believe Armed Revolution May Be Needed [POLL]
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Political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
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My opinion could not be less related to second amendment issues -- about which I am pretty much completely agnostic -- and is not partisan.
Rather, it's about the question of whether or not we can regain control over our government. I think there's still a chance, but I grow increasingly pessimistic about it over time.
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Poll is too late....
America's had its short window of partisan cooperation for the twenty-first century; which was used to take away said rights. Check back again in a 75 to 100 year and maybe they will consent working together again.
Now that they have have the right monitor you with no oversight (public at least, I'm sure there a hidden structure in there somewhere), we'll get more reasons why they can't rescind the bad laws they made than there are pages in the IRS tax code.
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How about social safety net?
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Privacy
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Re: Privacy
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Then the stupid sheep will give up whatever it takes.
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Civil Liberties vs. Fighting Terrorism
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It's a little late
Washington Post had a huge expose a couple years ago about govt secrecy state, including how trillions of intercepted communications are stored every DAY.
Now we have FBI counter-terroism agent saying that conversations are recorded:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/04/telephone-calls-recorded-fbi-boston
"No, welcome to America. All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not."
Not sure how much more they can expand it...
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Interesting party breakdown
That's the problem with the short sighted electorate. They never understand that whatever power they vest in their current trusted leader will similarly be vested in the next leader that they abhor. It's best to keep the party most closely aligned with your interests in check or you will regret it in 4-8 years. The progressives who are silent now are going to freak out when an R becomes president and starts exercising those powers of targeted killing, indefinite detention, and drones...
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The young crowd is as wet behind the ears as ever. The “nothing can hurt me I'm an American” syndrome infects the young mostly during the school years.
The Time/CNN group may not be noted for journalistic perfection and wonder if the questions used were neutral. Even when reading them its hard to tell without some professional physiological analysis.
Government officials have a tendency to ignore what is unpleasant to their ears and hype up the little bits/incidences that support their agenda. Unless this pols results start to influence the ballot box its only just a good sign.
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My guess is this poll was meant to be sent out to the 1 percent but somehow only 31 percent of the people they sent it to were actually part of the 1 percent.
If this went to the 99 percent the results would have been not a goddamn one of us are willing to give up our rights no matter the case.
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I think that the public's behavior over the last 12 years disproves your hypothesis.
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TSA...
'Patriot' Act...
NDAA...
Ever increasing surveillance everywhere...
You were saying?
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Yeah, and their parents thought their rock music was going to ruin values and destroy families yadayada. And I'm sure I'll hate {insert fashin/fad ten years from now} when my kids ll do it. Boohoo.
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Liberty vs. Security
I am 67 and a retired cop. I HATE the way this country has moved towards removing free speech (the teenager who rapped about 'terrorism' being arrested), increased monitoring (the FBI fellow who acknowledges the government is already collecting all e-mails and phone calls), and overall knee-jerk reactions to extremely minor offenses (nearly any school in the news.)
I have 9 guns in my house and play FPS (first person shooters) all the time. Iv'e never fired a gun off a range and am (reasonably) polite on-line. I certainly do not think gun ownership is inherently bad/unsafe or that 'video games' are " a bigger "safety threat" than guns."
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Them damn terrorist
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Them damn terrorist
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Being Gay Is Okay
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Terrorists are living among us every day.
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Give me liberty
not "Give me safety in exchange for freedom"
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