Dueling Polls: Americans on Latest NSA Data Mining

First, the Washington Post reports that most Americans approve of the National Security Agency collecting domestic telephone records for data mining purposes. Then Newsweek reports that no, most Americans believe this is invasion of privacy. Who to believe? Are these contradictory results?

It's always important to analyze poll results in light of methodology. That includes looking at the question and the margin of error in the poll. Let's examine these two.

1. ABC News/Washington Post Poll
May 11, 2006. N=502 adults nationwide. MoE ± 5 points. "The practical difficulties of doing a survey in a single night represents another potential source of error."

It's been reported that the National Security Agency has been collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans. It then analyzes calling patterns in an effort to identify possible terrorism suspects, without listening to or recording the conversations. Would you consider this an acceptable or unacceptable way for the federal government to investigate terrorism?

Acceptable: 63 percent (58-68)
Unacceptable: 35 percent (30-40)

2. Newsweek Poll. May 11-12, 2006. N=1,007 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.5 points.

As you may know, there are reports that the NSA, a government intelligence agency, has been collecting the phone call records of Americans. The agency doesn't actually listen to the calls but logs in nearly every phone number to create a database of calls made within the United States. Which of the following comes CLOSER to your own view of this domestic surveillance program? It is a necessary tool to combat terrorism. It goes too far in invading people's privacy.

Necessary: 41 (37-45)
Goes too far: 53 (49-58)

One thing that these results suggest is that the mention of "privacy" triggers a different response than simply positioning the act as a defense against terrorism. Another: the Newsweek poll shows a clear partisan split. Democrats overwhelmingly (73 percent) think NSA has gone too far; Republicans overwhelmingly (69 percent) think the NSA action is necessary.

However, most Americans appear to believe the media acted responsibly in reporting the program. And it appears that most believe that the Administration has "gone too far in expanding presidential power."

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