Americans Don't Trust Feds to Keep NSA Surveillance Legal

Voters still remain skepticalof the National Security Agencys domestic surveillance programs, but most agree that the continued disclosure of details about these programs is ultimately bad for national security.

A new Rasmussen Reports poll found 34 percent of likely U.S. voters favor the NSAs tracking of the telephone calls and emails of millions of Americans as part of the effort to fight terrorism. Forty-nine percent are opposed, while 17 percent are not sure.

Seventy-one percent say it is at least somewhat likely that the NSA phone and surveillance programs have inappropriately violated the privacy of innocent Americans, with 41 percent who say its very likely. Twenty-three percent consider it unlikely that the NSA wrongly violated some Americans privacy, but that includes just 3 percent who say its not at all likely.

More than half of voters -- 58 percent -- believe it is at least somewhat likely that continuing disclosure of the NSA phone and email surveillance programs is hurting U.S. national security. Twenty-nine percent disagree.

The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted Oct. 16-17. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.