Have Americans Jumped the Shark?

You'd think so if you read the new Washington Post/ABC News poll that indicates:

The new survey found that 63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism, including 44 percent who strongly endorsed the effort. Another 35 percent said the program was unacceptable, which included 24 percent who strongly objected to it.

A slightly larger majority--66 percent--said they would not be bothered if NSA collected records of personal calls they had made, the poll found.

Read the details about the methodology and the warning:

This Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted by telephone May 11, 2006 among 502 randomly selected adults nationwide. Margin of sampling error for overall results is plus or minus four percentage points. The practical difficulties of doing a survey in a single evening represent other potential sources of error in this or any other overnight poll.

502 people responding to an issue that just broke yesterday and the polling company admits that such a quick poll affects the margin of error.

Glenn Greenwald also chimes in:

I didn't even read about this story until yesterday morning and it took awhile to process the various issues and implications. I'm still doing that. I have a hard time believing that less than 24 hours after this program was first revealed by USA Today, most Americans had informed themselves about what this program is, why it is a departure from past practices, and what are its potential dangers and excesses -- let alone had an opportunity to hear from those who are opposed to the program explain why they are opposed to it.

Exactly. Greenwald went to great pains yesterday to note that, even though he is a lawyer, the legal complexities of this case make it difficult to make a snap decision about these new revelations. He also warns the left not to walk away from this issue simply because it appears that the majority of Americans may be fine with it. Given time to actually digest the facts, there will almost certainly be a lessening of support over time.

These poll results have emboldened Republicans who still don't seem to care about their privacy rights. They believe it's all a part of the 'sacrifice during a time of war' meme. If they truly want to sacrifice something personal to support their president, let them sign up for the military. They don't get to sacrifice everybody's right to privacy and conclude that it's just what Americans do when their country is at 'war'.