Polls indicate most Americans okay with NSA record tracking techniques

While everyone in the media world has taken their turn on the soapbox to either criticize or support Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor turned whistleblower who leaked information about the extent to which the U.S. government is going to track citizen phone records and Internet habits, the question now becomes less “What does media pundit A have to say about this?” and instead shifts now to “How does the average American feel about the report?”

According the latest survey from Pew Research, a majority of American adults think the National Security Agency’s (NSA) tracking program is a legitimate tool in the war against terror. Specifically, 56% of Americans think the NSA’s phone record tracking is okay, while just 41% believe it is unacceptable. 

45% of the 1,000+ adults interviewed even went so far as to say that they would agree to the government monitoring everyone’s e-mail to prevent future terrorist attacks.

Here are a few more results pulled from the Pew study: 

And what of Mr. Snowden? 

The argument here is whether to label the 29-year-old a traitor or hero. There hasn’t been an official study released on this particular question just yet, so what Buzzfeed did is they enlisted the services of social-media behavior-monitoring site Topsy to see what people were saying about the subject on Twitter.

Following the moment Snowden’s name hit the airwaves, tweets calling him a “hero” outweighed those calling him a “traitor” by a nearly 30-to-1 ration.

Snowden has long since fled the country to avoid being brought up on charges. Addressing the issue over whether Snowden should be returned to and tried for treason, here are the results when searching Twitter for the phrase “Edward Snowden extradite” versus “Edward Snowden pardon”:

What do you think of these questions? Does the government have a right to track its citizens to the level that Snowden has described? And what of him — is he a traitor to the country or a hero to its citizens? Let us know in the comment section below!

Read the full Pew Research report via people-press.org

Charts via buzzfeed.com