American Public Split on Legitimacy of Wiretapping U.S. Citizens..(Harris)

[sabra]

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-20-2006/0004264525&EDATE=

American Public Split on Legitimacy of Wiretapping U.S. Citizens without Court Warrants - But Strongly Polarized by Political Party


Plurality of U.S. adults think The New York Times was right to run the story

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The American public is more or
less equally divided, but strongly polarized by political party, on the issue
of wiretapping U.S. citizens without court authorization. The slender 45 to 42
percent plurality of U.S. adults who think President Bush's authorization of
the wiretapping was not a legitimate use of his power is not a statistically
significant difference. While the public is more or less equally divided, the
country is politically polarized on this issue, as on many others. Republicans
believe, by a 76 to 12 percent majority that this was a legitimate use of the
president's power, while a 68 to 20 percent majority of Democrats think it was
not a legitimate use. Independents tend to agree with Democrats; a 53 to 33
percent majority thinks it was not a legitimate use of the president's power.
These are some of the results of a Harris Poll of 2,985 U.S. adults
surveyed online between January 12 and 17, 2006 by Harris Interactive(R).

Role of The New York Times
While the public is almost equally divided on the legitimacy of the
president's actions, a clear 49 to 32 percent plurality thinks The New York
Times was right to run the story of the unauthorized wiretaps. Here again, the
public is polarized with 69 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of
Independents approving of what The New York Times did, and a 59 percent
majority of Republicans disapproving.

Other findings of this survey include:

* A modest 45 to 39 percent plurality of the public, including 78 percent
of Republicans and 24 percent of Democrats, thinks the White House was
right to ask The New York Times to hold this story.

* While 49 percent believe that The New York Times was right to run the
story, 33 percent of all adults think The Times should have ran it
immediately, while 11 percent think they were right to hold it.

[Earth_First]

1. Ugh. More awful news out of Rochester, New York

[Mithras61]

2. Here's the critical bit...

WAS PRESIDENT'S USE OF WIRETAPPING LEGITIMATE
"In the past few weeks the country has learned that President Bush authorized
the National Security Agency to issue wiretaps on U.S. citizens suspected of
terrorism on overseas calls without court authorization. How legitimate a use
of the President's power is this?"

The question STILL assumes that the wiretapping was only of overseas terrorists, which we ALL know it WAS NOT! There are AT LEAST two groups domestically that were tapped (an anti-Iraq War group in Philly & the Quakers). We also know that they were tapping the phones of journalists that they see as liberal (meaning to the left of *). The results are therefore PURE B.S.

[gratuitous]

5. That IS a carefully-crafted question

Karl should take a bow.

And, for the whiny ass titty babies who think that just making Incurious George our dictator, I just say you should get in a time machine and transport your sorry asses back to Joe Stalin's Soviet Union, where you'll feel much safer, more secure, and ever so much more at home. But get the hell out of my country.

[onenote]

9. agreed

The question presupposes that the wiretaps were directed at citizens "suspected of terrorism". I'd love to see the results if the question was asked this way: In the past few weeks the country has learned that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to issue wiretaps on Quakers who oppose the war in Iraq without seeking court authorization. How legitimate a use of the President's power is this?

onenote

[HuffleClaw]

14. EXACTLY

i've YET to see a poll that asks an honest question about this.

[BR_Parkway]

3. Lets get the question straight - Should W be in trouble for not following

the law by getting the warrants in the 72 hours the law requires?

Do you support a President who thinks he is above the law?

Do you think the administration was hiding who they were spying of from the FISA court?

Do you feel that breaking the law rises to the same impeachable offense level as a blowjob?

Those are the only questions these polls need to be asking. 85% true & patriotic Americans would agree - 13% wingnutz would disagree and call for our beheading, hanging or expulsion from the country - 2% would question who this Bush guy was.

[AX10]

4. Once the people find out...

that the wiretapping was done without a legal warrents, this so called "support" will plummet.

[shance]

6. We're not split, but the Right wing pushes propaganda to promote that lie.

n/t

[MissMillie]

7. I think this poll shows that there's been some progress on this issue

just a couple of weeks ago, I think the split was more like 60/40 or better in favor of the wiretaps.

People tend to miss the point that there is a system in place for the administration to obtain the warrants as required by law.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. Bullshit poll: asked leading question contrary to facts.

"In the past few weeks the country has learned that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to issue wiretaps on U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism on overseas calls without court authorization. How legitimate a use of the President's power is this?"

Effectively the question asked here was "is it a legitimate use of the president's power to spy on suspected terrorists?"

I'm surprised that only 42 percent answered yes. I suppose that is because quite a few of the responders saw through the framing.

A more legitimate question would be:

"In the past few weeks the country has learned that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to monitor the electronic communications of an unknown number of people inside the United States without obtaining a warrant, as required by law, for this monitoring. Do you think that the president has the legitimate authority to ignore existing laws and constitutional restrictions to conduct this sort of monitoring?"

[meow2u3]

10. Translation

Real Americans hate the very idea of Big Brother. Stupid Bushbots love the idea because it can't happen to them :sarcasm:


Here's what I say about criminal invasion of privacy with impunity: YOU COULD BE NEXT!

[LiberteToujours]

11. Even if 90% approved, it's still wrong

It just means that they've done a good job at brainwashing the public, which raises the question, how did they pull off a mass brainwashing of the American public without being held accountable? The Constitution was built to withstand corrupt governments; all it requires is the vigilance of the people. Where did all the vigilance go? Not paying attention, too busy following the story of the latest missing blonde.

[depakid]

12. People still believe these "polls"

As several posters implied- these cheap media polls are meant to influence public opinion, not to reflect it. Hire me (or most any competent graduate student in math or sciences) to give you a result with what looks like a "scientific" methodology and impressive stats- and get you ANY ANSWER YOU WANT.

[hang a left]

13. They want to try this law breaking in the court of public opinion

That is not where the debate belongs. It belongs in Congress and with the Judiciary. Pass it along.

[Charlie Brown]

15. 20% of Democrats?

We need to show these folks the door, ASAP.

[Puzzler]

16. The general public misunderstands the issue

Many people seem to think that the issue is whether or not the government should wire tap... and then, when told about how it may avoid another 9/11, they concede that it may be OK. But that is NOT the issue. The government has always been able to do this. The question here is whether they can do it WITHOUT the appropriate warrants... warrants that are (for the most part) very easily attainable.

Of course, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why BushCo would want to avoid warrants. Clearly they want to eavesdrop on people who they would have difficulty in getting wire tap warrants for... like their political rivals (both in their party and outside).


-P