Americans oppose renewing the Patriot Act by a nearly two to one margin, according to a new poll commissioned by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
60 percent of respondents want to modify the law. Only 34 percent are in favor of renewing it with no changes—the policy currently being touted by the likes of Mitch McConnell and Marco Rubio.
There was also little partisan divide on the issue—59 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of Republicans are in favor of modifying the Patriot Act. The majority of both “very liberal” and “very conservative” respondents want to see the law changed.
Young voters were the most likely to support changing the Patriot Act. 65 percent of 18-39 year olds support modification, compared to 59 percent of those 45 and older.
An overwhelming majority—82 percent—called the government’s record collection “concerning.” Asked about particular aspects of surveillance, voters were most worried about the government accessing personal information without a judge’s permission or without a warrant.
Respondents were also asked to rate certain pro-privacy arguments in terms of how convincing they found them. For example, when told that “the government has no business interfering” in personal relationships, “like those between husbands and wives, doctors and patients, and pastors and congregants,” 59 percent called this argument “very” convincing.
84 percent found “very” or “somewhat” convincing the argument that law enforcement should need a warrant to search email and phone records just as they do to search your home.
“It shows how disconnected members of Congress are from the feelings of a lot of the public,” ACLU lobbyist Neema Singh Guliani told The Hill. “What the poll results tell us is that in order to be more reflective of the public’s views on surveillance and the Patriot Act, members of Congress should support … more aggressive reforms.”
Certain Patriot Act provisions, including Section 215, which the government has used to justify the NSA’s metadata collection, are set to expire in June. McConnell is pushing for a clean extension with no privacy reforms. Other members of the Senate, including Ted Cruz, want to advance House legislation which would renew the Patriot Act while making modest reforms to NSA spying.
The ACLU, on the other hand, wants Congress to allow the provisions to sunset. Rand Paul also takes this stance. After a federal court ruled the government’s justification of the metadata program illegal, even more privacy groups became in favor of allowing those provisions to expire rather than propping up the program with weak legislation.
