Just as many Americans fear their own government spying on them as they do foreign actors, a new Rasmussen Reports poll released this week finds.
According to the poll released Tuesday, 82% of Americans fear they are being spied on by foreign nations, but 74% are just as afraid of being spied on by the U.S. government.
Pulse Opinion Research LLC. conducted the poll of 911 likely U.S. voters April 17-19 with a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points, according to the organization.
Of those concerned about spying, 52% said they were "very concerned" about foreign spying as compared to 49% saying they were "very concerned" about the U.S. government spying on them.
Just 17% and 25% of those surveyed said they were not concerned about foreign or domestic spying respectively.
According to the poll, Republicans are slightly more concerned about domestic spying than foreign spying, 70% to 67% respectively, with unaffiliated voters also worrying slightly more about their own government spying on them 50% to 49% over foreign entities.
Democrats, on the other hand, are much more worried about foreign actors than the U.S. government spying on them 40% to 28% respectively.
The trend follows among the supporters of President Joe Biden with 53% saying they were at least somewhat concerned with domestic spying, compared to 95% of those who disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president, including 85% who said they were "very concerned" about domestic spying efforts.
Black Americans are more likely to be "very concerned" over domestic spying, 65%, compared to white Americans at 46% and other races at 47%.
Both Black and white Americans are equally "very concerned" about foreign spying at 54% each and other races at 42%, the poll found.
Broken down by age, 81% of Americans under age 40 are concerned about domestic spying, compared to 72% of Americans ages 40-64, and 68% of those over age 65, according to the poll.
Males were more concerned with foreign spying over domestic spying 84% to 72%, compared to females 81% to 75%, the poll found.
When it comes to handling national security issues, most Americans trust Republicans more than Democrats 45% to 41% with 14% saying they were unsure.
The poll found 85% of Republicans and 79% of Democrats trusting their own party to properly handle the issue, while unaffiliated voters support Republicans more by 41% to 28%.
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