There’s an intersection between the Second Amendment and anything that has to do with government overreach. If we look at the countless ways the federal government has failed on public safety policy and the execution of its duties, the body count is high. That’s both literal and figurative. Those who exercise the Second Amendment have everything to be worried about when it comes to our own government spying in on them. To progressives, gun owners are essentially an enemy of the state. A recent Rasmussen Reports® survey found that Americans are worried about domestic spying.
Voter concerns about domestic surveillance have not decreased, as the nation prepares for a new administration under President-elect Donald Trump.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 71% of Likely U.S. Voters are concerned about the U.S. government spying on American citizens, including 40% who are Very Concerned. Only 25% aren’t concerned about domestic spying. These findings are only slightly changed from January 2021, when Joe Biden was President-elect. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Forty-five percent (45%) expect government spying on U.S. citizens to increase in the new Trump administration, compared to 32% who think such surveillance will decrease and 15% who expect it to stay about the same. Four years ago, 40% believed spying would increase under Biden.
The phraseology of how voter concerns on spying have not decreased with a President-elect Trump sitting in the bullpen is interesting. How conservatives versus liberals feel about the potential for the government to peek into our lives perhaps is where the story is.
Rasmussen observed that “68% of Democrats expect government spying on U.S. citizens to increase under Trump, 56% of Republicans believe domestic surveillance will decrease with Trump as president.”
We’re living in a day and age where squirrels are being executed and airport executives are too. For the public to have a general fear of being spied on, at this point in history, is not a shock at all. We’ve been dealing with excessive surveillance for almost a quarter century – maybe more.
A Trump presidency is not going to solve all the country’s issues – if you’re one who thinks Trump was the answer to fixing our broken government. However, he’s probably going to put a massive dent into them. Part of that is going to include stopping programs that usurp the rights of Americans – as long as he’s aware of them.
We saw what “the swamp” did from 2017-2021. What about that has good faith written on it for what’s to come? “Fifty-three percent (53%) of those who voted for Trump in 2024 are Very Concerned about domestic surveillance, compared to 30% of those who voted for Kamala Harris,” the survey showed. Trump is not the causal factor here, but a symptom of what the progressives have done to freedom-loving Americans.
Gun owners in particular would be worried about overzealous invasions in privacy, and the results of the survey would have been interesting if that was a question.
We don’t know what’s going to come after January 20th. We’re not sure what the next four years are going to bring us. With overhauls of the ATF and perhaps a recasting of the “Gun Violence” office at the White House, we can remain hopeful.
It’s doubtful that we’re going to be dealing with a surveillance state that’s hostile to the liberty-minded. But then again, we can look at events during Trump’s former presidency that we can all see were outside of his control – that is an understatement. Second Amendment supporters need to remain vigilant in protecting themselves and their data.
One thing the left, right, and center seem to be able to agree upon is an important finding from the survey. “Majorities of every political category – 67% of Republicans, 54% of Democrats (25%), and 62% of voters not affiliated with either major party – distrust the government’s judgment on domestic surveillance,” Rasmussen observed. If anything, that could be a good common ground going forward past the next four years and beyond.
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