Most Prefer Airport Body Scanner to Pat-Down
Airports across the country, from Washington, D.C. to Seattle, are beginning to install new full-body scanners as part of their security checkpoints. But for privacy reasons, many Americans oppose the scanners which show full-body nude images of the passenger to a screener in another room.
In the wake of the latest terrorist bombing attempt last week, the Department of Homeland Security may soon require full-body pat-downs of all boarding airline passengers if they refuse to go through the full-body scanner. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that, given the choice, 69% of Likely U.S. voters would rather go through the full-body scanner at the airport than be subjected to a full body pat-down. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Twenty-two percent (22%) would opt for the pat-down rather than go through the scanner
In January, 71% of adults favored using full-body scanners in airports.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on October 30-31, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Related Articles
Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.
We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.
Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. Subscriptions are available for $4.95 a month or 34.95 a year that provide subscribers with exclusive access to more than 20 stories per week on upcoming elections, consumer confidence, and issues that affect us all. For those who are really into the numbers, Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and a full history of our data.
To learn more about our methodology, click here.
