Voters Still Don't Trust Government to Abide by Constitution

Although President Obama said Friday there were tighter restrictions on the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program, most voters aren't convinced the government will protect their constitutional rights and very few Americans expect the program to cut back on monitoring the phone calls of ordinary Americans.

A new poll released Monday showed only 11 percent of likely U.S. voters now think it's less likely that the federal government will monitor private phone calls of ordinary Americans, while 30 percent believe it is more likely that the government will monitor these calls. Forty-nine percent of likely U.S. voters expect the level of surveillance to remain the same.

Obama's press conference did not instill trust in the government to abide by the Constitution, either. Only 31 percent of likely voters said they trust the president, the executive branch, Congress and federal judges to make sure the NSA program is abiding by the Constitution. Over half of voters -- 55 percent -- do not trust the three branches of government to do so.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted Aug. 9-10. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.