Americans turn against government as poll shows a majority SUPPORT Edward Snowden as a whistle-blower, not a traitor



A demonstrator holds a sign praising Edward Snowden as a 'HERO,' with the last letter replaced by the Barack Obama campaign logo, during a July 4 event in Boston

A majority of Americans see NSA leaker Edward Snowden favorably and consider him a whistle-blower who exposed a government surveillance program that has gone too far, according to national poll numbers released Wednesday.

The poll of more than 2,000 registered voters, conducted by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute showed that 55 per cent call Snowden a whistle-blower, while just 34 per cent call him a traitor.

And in a huge shift of attitudes brought on by Snowden's leaks, 45 per cent agreed that the government's anti-terrorism efforts go too far in restricting civil liberties. A similar poll in January 2012 showed that 63 per cent believe those government programs didn't go far enough to protect the country from terrorists.

The findings 'are the public reaction and apparent shock at the extent to which the government has gone in trying to prevent future terrorist incidents,' said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Brown also noted that there is 'little difference along party lines' in opinions about anti-terrorism programs and civil liberties between Democrats and Republicans.



That in itself is 'unusual,' he said, 'in a country sharply divided along political lines about almost everything.'

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Poll Do you support Edward Snowden as a whistle-blower or see him as a traitor? Whistle-blower Traitor Do you support Edward Snowden as a whistle-blower or see him as a traitor? Whistle-blower 14038 votes

Traitor 8251 votes Now share your opinion





More Democrats in the poll - 43 per cent - thought the government has gone too far, compared with 41 per cent of Republicans. Similar unanimity was seen on the Snowden question, with 38 per cent of Republicans and 39 per cent of Democrats calling him a traitor.



'[T]he verdict that Snowden is not a traitor,' added Brown, 'goes against almost the unified view of the nation's political establishment.'

Paradoxically, however, a slight majority also said they supported 'the federal government program in which all phone calls are scanned to see if any calls are going to a phone number linked to terrorism.'

The highest support for that program in any demographic group was 58 per cent, among white voters earning more than $100,000 per year. That's the same subset of the population where 50 percent said the government has restricted civil liberties too much.

The poll. which sampled land line and cell phones between June 28 and July 8, has a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.