American Public Split on Legitimacy of Wiretapping U.S. Citizens without

Court Warrants - But Strongly Polarized by Political Party

Plurality of U.S. adults think The New York Times was right to run the story

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The American public is more
or less equally divided, but strongly polarized by political party, on
the issue of wiretapping U.S. citizens without court authorization.
The slender 45 to 42 percent plurality of U.S. adults who think
President Bush's authorization of the wiretapping was not a legitimate
use of his power is not a statistically significant difference. While
the public is more or less equally divided, the country is politically
polarized on this issue, as on many others. Republicans believe, by a
76 to 12 percent majority that this was a legitimate use of the
president's power, while a 68 to 20 percent majority of Democrats
think it was not a legitimate use. Independents tend to agree with
Democrats; a 53 to 33 percent majority thinks it was not a legitimate
use of the president's power.

These are some of the results of a Harris Poll of 2,985 U.S. adults
surveyed online between January 12 and 17, 2006 by Harris
Interactive(R).

Role of The New York Times

While the public is almost equally divided on the legitimacy of the
president's actions, a clear 49 to 32 percent plurality thinks The New
York Times was right to run the story of the unauthorized wiretaps.
Here again, the public is polarized with 69 percent of Democrats and
55 percent of Independents approving of what The New York Times did,
and a 59 percent majority of Republicans disapproving.

Other findings of this survey include:

* A modest 45 to 39 percent plurality of the public, including 78 percent

of Republicans and 24 percent of Democrats, thinks the White House was

right to ask The New York Times to hold this story.

* While 49 percent believe that The New York Times was right to run the

story, 33 percent of all adults think The Times should have ran it

immediately, while 11 percent think they were right to hold it.

This survey is yet another example of how strongly polarized the
country has become; with most Republicans supporting, and most
Democrats opposing, almost everything controversial that the president
says or does.

TABLE 1

WAS PRESIDENT'S USE OF WIRETAPPING LEGITIMATE "In the past few weeks
the country has learned that President Bush authorized

the National Security Agency to issue wiretaps on U.S. citizens
suspected of terrorism on overseas calls without court authorization.
How legitimate a use

of the President's power is this?"

Base: All adults

Party ID

Total Republican Democrat Independent

(n=2,985) (n=974) (n=981) (n=798)

% % % %

Legitimate (NET) 42 76 20 33

Definitely legitimate 24 49 8 18

Probably legitimate 17 27 12 15

Not Legitimate (NET) 45 12 68 53

Probably not legitimate 17 9 24 20

Definitely not legitimate 27 3 44 33

Not sure 14 12 12 14

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 2

WAS NEW YORK TIMES RIGHT OR WRONG TO RUN STORY

"The New York Times held off on printing the story for over a year
after meeting with the White House. Was it right or wrong for The New
York Times to

run this story at all?"

Base: All adults

Party ID

Total Republican Democrat Independent

(n=2,985) (n=974) (n=981) (n=798)

% % % %

Right to run the story 49 21 69 55

Wrong to run the story 32 59 15 27

Not sure 19 21 15 18

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 3

WAS WHITE HOUSE RIGHT OR WRONG TO ASK NEW YORK TIMES TO HOLD THE STORY

"A reporter for The New York Times discovered the existence of this

authorization some time ago. The White House specifically asked The New York

Times not to run the story due to national security concerns. Was the
White House right or wrong to initially ask The New York Times to hold
this story?"

Base: All adults

Party ID

Total Republican Democrat Independent

(n=2,985) (n=974) (n=981) (n=798)

% % % %

Right to ask 45 78 24 39

Wrong to ask 39 11 60 45

Not sure 15 11 16 16

Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 4

SHOULD NEW YORK TIMES HAVE RUN STORY IMMEDIATELY OR WERE THEY RIGHT TO HOLD

IT? "Do you think The New York Times should have run this story
immediately, or do

you think The New York Times was right to hold off for over a year?"

Base: Those who say The New York Times was right to run the story

Total Repercentaged

(n=1,370) to Represent %s

of All Adults

% %

Should have run the story immediately 68 33

Was right to wait to run the story 22 11

Not sure 10 5*

* All adults who say The New York Times was right to run the story but

are not sure if they should have run it immediately or held off for

over a year.

Methodology

The Harris Poll(R) was conducted online within the United States
between January 12 and 17, 2006 among 2,985 adults (aged 18 and over).
Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income
were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their
actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was
also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with
95 percent certainty that the overall results have a sampling error of
plus or minus 2 percentage points of what they would be if the entire
U.S. adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Sampling
error for the various sub-samples listed in the tables above is higher
and varies. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of
error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than
theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to
be interviewed (nonresponse), question wording and question order, and
weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result
from these factors. This online sample was not a probability sample.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the
National Council on Public Polls.

J26567

Q550, Q555, Q560, Q565

The Harris Poll(R) #8, January 20, 2006

By Humphrey Taylor, chairman of The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive(R)

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