Posted on 06/11/2002 6:39:05 AM PDT by Boonie Rat
Poll: Four in Five Americans Would Give Up Some Freedom for More Security
By Jennifer L. Brown Associated Press Writer
Published: Jun 11, 2002
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Four in five Americans would give up some freedoms to gain security and four in 10 worry terrorists will harm them or their family, a new Gallup poll shows.
About one-third of those polled favor making it easier for authorities to access private e-mail and telephone conversations. More than 70 percent are in favor of requiring U.S. citizens to carry identification cards with fingerprints, and 77 percent believe all Americans should have smallpox vaccinations.
"It was amazing the percentage of people who are willing to give up freedom to get back some sense of personal security," said Elaine Christiansen, senior research director for The Gallup Organization. "These aren't people who were necessarily near the twin towers, near the Pentagon, near the Murrah building. These are average people."
The telephone survey, conducted in March, included 934 people across the country. Researchers also polled about 500 people in each of three cities where terrorist attacks occurred - New York City, Washington, D.C., and Oklahoma City - to compare results with the general population survey.
The poll showed 8 percent of Americans are very worried and 31 percent are somewhat worried that they or someone in their family will become victims of a terrorist attack in the United States. In New York City, the level of worry is higher - 19 percent said they are very worried and 34 percent said they are somewhat worried.
Washington, D.C, and Oklahoma City reported levels of fear close to the national average.
Scientists involved in the poll said they were not surprised many Americans remain fearful after Sept. 11.
"The magnitude of the event was just so profound," said Carol North, a psychiatry professor at Washington University in St. Louis, who said talk of the war in Afghanistan, airline security and terrorist threats is propelling the fear.
The study was co-sponsored by The University of Oklahoma psychiatry department through a grant from the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism. The main survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, while the margin of error for the survey in the three cities is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Meanwhile, a New York Times/CBS News poll found that 60 percent of New York City residents think the threat of a terrorist attack in their city is greater than it is in any other big city.
Barely 40 percent of respondents believe the city is safer than it had been four years ago, a decrease of 20 percent from those polled in August. Even so, nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said that given a choice, they would prefer to be living in the city four years from now than any other place.
The poll, conducted by telephone in English or Spanish June 4 through Sunday, surveyed 940 adults. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
That can be stuffed all the way to hell. There is NO CHANCE I'll carry my 'papers' around.
Every man dies. Not every man really lives.
I think there is drugs in your house. I'm the feds. Mind if I search. If you are a good little sheep, you'll let me search since you don't have anything to hide.
"Things have changed" since they wrote the Constitution and that pesky Bill of Rights. Guess we should just get rid of both. Better Red Than Dead, eh?
joanie-f, knowing what you father went through, I believe you will appreciate gunshy's remarks.
Thank you.
Thank you.
And if the feds are involved, it's always worse.
do americans realize that the u.s. is accepting more immigrants today than since the 1950's??
wouldn't you think that would be the FIRST line of defense??
"Do you really think the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. hate us and want to destroy us? I don't."
They had 8 years of clinton and I suspect he placed some unsavory people at the top of these orgs. I am not talking about the rank and file, rather, the leadership. I no longer buy the excuse "mistakes were made". Ruby Ridge and Waco were not "mistakes" IMO. An fbi agent murdered a woman standing in the dorrway with a child in her arms and got away with it. They burned 70+ men, women and children at Waco and got away with it.
As we all know, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Here's something I wrote and posted recently for those of you who'd rather be "safe" than free. BTW, please note that I posted my name at the end of the poem because I refuse to live in fear
In the Name Of Security
The patriot act sticks in my craw
because it’s really a Gestapo Law
now the FBI gets more powers
to spy on us for 24 hours
In the name of security
Let’s not forget history
of what happened in Germany
the majority went along
gathered together in throngs
embracing all the wrongs
In the name of security
Cameras here, cameras there
cameras everywhere
on the corners, in the mall
as our freedoms fall
attached to traffic lights
losing our privacy rights
In the name of security
Soon we’ll get ID cards
as they build more prison yards
they want us to watch the other guy
an entire nation to spy
In the name of security
Giving power to strangers,
to people we don’t know
presents future dangers
as their power continues to grow
In the name of security
Ben Franklin said it best
want to be like all the rest?
trade liberty for security
then, only those in power will be free
In the name of security
Some may think I’m paranoid
just making a lot of noise
don’t forget the FBI files
some of us are still riled
In the name of security
Justification has begun
we must keep terrorists on the run
in the name of security
you must give up your privacy
Give it up for security
Copyright © 2002 By John J. Lindsay. All Rights Reserved
June 1, 2002
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