Ipso Wiretap Poll : Half Believe Wiretap Warrants Necessary

News reports are echoing the press release headline issued by Ipsos: "Public More Accepting Of Domestic Eavesdropping After Bush Campaigns For Controversial Program." But they are wrong, according to Journalism.org.

Here are the data, and question, from PollingReport.com -- the margin of error is +/- 3.1 percent and 1,000 American adults (not just voters) were polled:

Should the Bush Administration be required to get a warrant from a judge before monitoring phone and Internet communications between American citizens in the United States and suspected terrorists, or should the government be allowed to monitor such communications without a warrant?

Date           Warrant         Without       Unsure
               Required        Warrant
	
Feb 6-8          50  	          48  	       2
Jan 3-5          56  	          42  	       2

The difference in these results can be explained by the margin of error: If you asked this question 100 times, 95 times the results would be within three percentage points of the original answer.

Thus, these polls show only that about half of the American public believes the President should be required to use a warrant. Given the many other areas of public life where this country is divided almost 50-50, this should be no great suprise. Or news.

It can be argued that the question does not accurately reflect the nature of the wiretapping program. Do we know, for example, that the incoming international call being monitored is from a suspected terrorist? No, because the administration has refused to publicly release details of the program, although it briefed a House Committee Thursday. [Coincidence? Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) announced he is drafting legislation to direct the FISA Court to review the warrantless wiretap program for constitutionality. And Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) also called for a full review and possible modifications to FISA.]

It is possible, however, that the news reporting of this poll will impact public opinion. After all, we've now been told that we're changing our minds.

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