June 21, 2013
Most Americans believe exposure of the government’s massive secret surveillance effort is likely to have hurt U.S. national security, but they don’t think reporters who reveal secret information should be punished for it.
Fifty-seven percent (57%) of American Adults think it is at least somewhat likely that public disclosure of the National Security Agency’s phone and e-mail surveillance program has hurt this country’s national security. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 30% feel that’s unlikely.
This includes 21% who believe the disclosure of the surveillance program is Very Likely to have hurt national security and six percent (6%) who say it is Not At All Likely to have done so. Thirteen percent (13%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
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The national survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on June 17-18, 2013 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.