The Pew Research Center, which has a history of surveying the American public about its views on the media, has a new poll out suggesting that to many folks, the NSA leaks scandal doesn't look like much of a scandal.
The poll, co-sponsored by The Washington Post, surveyed 1,004 adults over the weekend and found that more than half of them, 56 percent, felt the NSA's dragnet collection of telephone metadata was "acceptable." Another 41 percent said it was unacceptable, and 2 percent were undecided.
Fully 45 percent of Americans believe the government should "be able to monitor everyone's email to prevent possible terrorism." That's exactly the same percentage that Pew found when it asked the same question 11 years ago, less than one year after the September 2001 terrorist attacks. Today, 52 percent said universal email monitoring would be unacceptable, versus 47 percent who believed it was unacceptable in 2002.
News of the NSA leaks dominated news weekend coverage. Politicians weighed in on the issue during the Sunday news shows, and late Sunday The Guardian published the identity of the leaker, former NSA employee Edward Snowden. But the Pew poll seems to indicate that what resonates with the press isn't necessarily resonating with the public.
The results show some variance by age group. Poll respondents aged 18 to 39 are the most concerned about government privacy intrusions: 40 percent say the government should steer clear of privacy violations even if that limits the ability to go after terrorists, as opposed to 31 percent of those aged 40-64 and 26 percent of those aged 65 and over.
The poll also suggests a partisan bent to view on this issue over time. In 2006, 75 percent of Republicans found it acceptable for the NSA to tap into phones and emails without court approval to prosecute suspected terrorists, while only 52 percent are OK with it now. Similarly, Democrats view today's NSA phone surveillance as acceptable by a margin of 64 percent to 32 percent, whereas back in 2006 Democrats found warrantless NSA snooping unacceptable by a ratio of 61 percent to 36 percent.
Younger people were also the most tuned-out to this weekend's news, with only 16 percent following it closely and 49 percent following it "not at all closely." That compares to 27 percent of middle-aged respondents and 23 percent of older respondents who said they followed "not at all closely."
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