35% against prosecuting NSA leaker

June 17, 2013, 1:32 PM GMT+0

The U.S. government may find it difficult to convince Americans that Edward Snowden is a criminal.

Edward Snowden is the NSA leaker who revealed a range of US and international spying programs, including the PRISM program which has seen the NSA get potentially unlimited access to the customer information of major companies such as Facebook or Google. More Americans have a favorable view than an unfavorable view of Snowden, though the margin is not large. And in the same YouGov poll, conducted earlier this week, more oppose Snowden’s being prosecuted for those leaks than support prosecution.

More than a third don’t think Snowden should be tried for what he did; 26% are in favor. Many aren’t sure or take no position. But the opposition to prosecution is nearly across the board: only among African-Americans, those with post-graduate education and those 65 and older do more favor than oppose prosecuting the contractor. Democrats are evenly divided, Republicans and independents clearly opposed.

Snowden’s actions have made him more popular than not: 44% have a favorable impression of Snowden, while 31% are unfavorable.

17% are unsure. Fewer than one in ten say they have never heard of Snowden.

Snowden gets his poorest ratings from Democrats, though nearly as many Democrats rate him favorably as unfavorably. Nearly half of Republicans are favorable; only a third are not. Unfavorable ratings of Snowden increase with age.

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