January 17, 2005
By PENNY BROWN ROBERTS
Advocate staff writer
Raiders News
Most Louisiana voters aren't troubled by restrictions on their freedoms but are closely divided on whether the country is safer than it was before the terrorist attacks, The Advocate's statewide year-end poll indicates.
Those surveyed were asked, "In the fight against terrorism, have Americans' freedoms been restricted too much, about right or not enough?"
Two-thirds of those polled say their rights have been properly restricted -- or not restricted enough. Just 18 percent say freedoms are too severely restrained and 6 percent don't know or refused to answer.
Asked "Do you think America is safer today than it was before 9/11," 50 percent say the country is more secure, while 45 percent say it is not. Another 6 percent say they don't know or refused to answer.
The Patriot Act and The Homeland Security Act -- passed by Congress shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks -- have greatly expanded the government's surveillance and detention powers.
Critics contend the laws diminished the protections Americans enjoy under the Bill of Rights, letting the government search homes without notifying those who live there, track reading selections people make at libraries or bookstores and detain immigrants indefinitely for visa violations.
Baton Rouge-based U.S. Attorney David Dugas, who has made a number of presentations on the Patriot Act around the state, said the poll indicates Louisianians "continue to support giving law enforcement reasonable and necessary tools to fight the war on terror."
"In talking to people, I think they understand that we're fighting a war," Dugas said. "After 9/11 we need to take measures to protect public safety and health within the United States and that's important."
But he added that federal authorities "understand that we're fighting not just to save American life but the American way of life and it's equally important to protect our constitutional liberties and those things that make America great."
Poll results vary little by geography, with the exception of north Louisiana, where residents are even more supportive of the measures. Just 14 percent of those surveyed there characterize freedoms as too restricted, while nearly 80 percent say limits on freedoms are about right or not restrictive enough.
Race, gender and political party also factor into the responses.
Black voters are more than twice as likely as whites to reply that freedoms aren't being restricted enough -- 36 percent to 18 percent. But black voters also are more likely to characterize the measures as too restrictive, 29 percent to 14 percent. By comparison, 62 percent of white voters and 28 percent of black voters say the measures are just right.
Men are more likely than women to deem restrictions as "too much," while women are more likely than men to deem them "not enough."
And respondents who identified themselves as registered Democrats and self-identified Independents are far more likely than self-identified Republicans to question the measures. Twenty-four percent of the self-identified Democrats and 20 percent of the self-identified Independents say their freedoms have been restricted too much; just 8 percent of self-identified Republicans do.
Louisiana American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Joe Cook said many people are unaware of how their freedoms have been curtailed.
As examples, he cited the government's ability to review library records, purchases, medical history, e-mail correspondence and personal finances without proving the standard of probable cause.
"I think that the people who were polled and gave those answers are probably unaware of the extent to which their rights have been taken away without passing the necessary and defensible test," Cook said.
"What must be considered is whether the restriction is necessary, will it in fact increase our security and will it outweigh the constitutional cost," he added. "When you use that test, it fails, and I think, unfortunately, the majority of people in this state don't understand what freedoms have been taken away."
As for whether Louisianians feel safer since the terrorist attacks of 2001, respondents who live in North Louisiana, Acadiana and Baton Rouge are more assured in their security than those in the New Orleans area.
White voters are more likely than black voters to respond affirmatively -- 58 percent compared to 27 percent. By comparison, 66 percent of black voters say they do not feel safer, while 36 percent of white voters express more fear.
From a political party perspective, 79 percent of respondents who identified themselves as Republicans, 55 percent of self-identified Independents and 27 percent of self-identified Democrats say they believe the country is safer today.
Seventy-four percent of those who say they voted for President George Bush indicate they feel more secure, compared to 27 percent of those who say they supported failed Democratic contender John Kerry.
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