It wasn’t long ago that a wide majority of tea party Republicans thought that the government wasn’t doing enough to protect Americans from the threat of terrorism. Now, five years into Barack Obama’s presidency, the conservative contingent of the GOP is far more concerned about threats to civil liberties, according to findings released Friday by Pew Research Center.
The survey found that Americans overall have shifted in their views of anti-terrorism efforts. In 2010, Pew showed that a plurality of 47 percent of Americans didn’t think anti-terrorism policies went far enough to protect the country; today, an identical percentage said such policies have gone too far in restricting civil liberties.
But the flip was even more pronounced among the tea party. Sixty-three percent of tea party Republicans in 2010 said anti-terrorism policies did not go far enough to protect the country. In Pew’s latest, however, 55 percent of tea partiers said they’re more concerned about the restrictions to civil liberties.
Democrats have undergone a mild flip on the issue. Nearly half of the party said anti-terrorism policies weren’t doing enough to protect the country in 2010. Today, there is a near even split on the issue: a slight plurality of 42 percent of Democrats said those policies go too far in curbing civil liberties, while 38 percent said they don’t go far enough to protect the country.
