64% Support Full-Body Scanners

Pat-downs, however, are less popular: new poll
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 23, 2010 8:23 AM CST
64% Support Full-Body Scanners
A female traveler, front, receives instruction from a TSA officer, center, on the correct position for a full-body scan at Boston's Logan International Airport, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010.   (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Despite the uproar over the TSA's enhanced security procedures, a new poll shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans actually support the new full-body scanners. Even so, only 48% believe the enhanced pat-downs are justified, according to the Washington Post-ABC News poll. Some 68% of those surveyed said the government must investigate possible terrorist activity even if it invades personal privacy, and 64% support the new scanners as a method of doing so. The high numbers still aren't as high as the last poll that was publicized, which showed a full 81% of Americans supported the scanners.

Even though about a third saw the machines as a potential health risk, 45% of those people supported them nonetheless. And it breaks down about evenly between the parties: 69% of Democrats support the scanners compared to 65% of Republicans, and 52% of Democrats support the pat-downs while 49% of Republicans do. Regardless of how they feel, 71% say the new procedures won't make a difference in how often they fly, while 10% say they'll actually fly more. As for the alternative? Seven out of 10 support profiling passengers instead.
(Read more airport scanners stories.)

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