56% of people polled think the government should pursue a criminal case against Edward Snowden
A new Pew Research Center poll released this week shows that a slight majority (56%) of those polled believe the government should pursue a criminal case against Edward Snowden, while 44% don’t think the government should file criminal charges against the NSA whistleblower or are not sure.
However, the public is divided about whether Edward Snowden’s leak of classified information, which brought the program to light, has served or harmed the public interest: 45% say it has served the public interest while 43% say it harmed it.
The poll taken after President Obama gave his NSA speech also revealed that few people payed attention to the President’s changes outlined in the speech.
“Half say they have heard nothing at all about his proposed changes to the NSA, and another 41% say they heard only a little bit. Even among those heard about Obama’s speech, few think the changes will improve privacy protections, or make it more difficult for the government to fight terrorism.”
Other data extracted from the poll of 1,504 adults taken last week shows only 40% approve of the government’s collection of telephone and internet data as part of anti-terrorism efforts, while 53% disapprove. In July, more Americans approved (50%) than disapproved (44%) of the program.
Nearly half (48%) say there are not adequate limits on what telephone and internet data the government can collect; fewer (41%) say there are adequate limits on the government’s data collection. About four-in-ten Republicans (39%) and independents (38%) – and about half of Democrats (48%) – think there are adequate limits on the information that the government can collect.
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