24% Support Warrantless Mobile Phone Searches By Police
The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments on whether police must obtain a warrant to search data on the cell phone of a person under arrest. Most Americans oppose warrantless searches of mobile phones, and those who use their phone for financial transactions are even more firmly opposed. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 24% of American Adults believe that if police arrest someone for any offense, they should be allowed to search that individual’s mobile phone without a warrant. Sixty-seven percent (67%) disagree and don’t think police should be allowed to conduct a warrantless search of a suspect's phone. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
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The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on May 8-9, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.