The majority of Americans know little to nothing about the use of domestic drones: Poll
A new poll concerning American’s attitudes toward domestic drone use was published recently by Monmouth University, and it reveals some interesting revelations on how the public feels about this controversial topic.
Raven unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
Image/DOD
The Department of Homeland Security has been developing drones to patrol the nation’s borders and the Federal Aviation Administration has been revising rules to widen the use of drones for other domestic purposes.
The majority of Americans are essentially clueless concerning this.
The poll finds fewer than half of Americans have heard either a great deal (18%) or some (29%) about the domestic use of drones. Another 27% have heard a little and 25% have heard nothing at all about this.
This contrasts with the military use of drones overseas where 60% of American have some awareness of that program.
When questioned about specific tasks for domestic drones, eight out of 10 support the idea of using drones to help with search and rescue missions, while Six-in-ten also support using drones to control illegal immigration on the nation’s borders.
Not so favorable is the idea of using domestic drones to issue speeding tickets, which only garnered 21 percent support from those polled.
“Support for the use of law enforcement drones in U.S. airspace has not changed in the past year, but this new poll shows there are significant caveats. For one, the public overwhelmingly supports Monmouth University Polling Institute judicial oversight before drones are employed,” said Patrick Murray, director of the New Jersey-based Monmouth University Polling Institute.
Three-quarters of those polled say that law enforcement agencies should be required to obtain a warrant from a judge before using drones. Only 14% say that law enforcement agencies should be able to decide on their own when to use drones.
Less than half (47%) of those polled are confident that law enforcement will use drones appropriately.
69 percent of Americans have at least some privacy concerns when asked about the use of domestic drones.
The latest Monmouth University Poll was conducted by telephone with 1012 adults from July 25 to 30, 2013. This sample has a margin of error of + 3.1 percent. The poll was conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, New Jersey.
