61 percent of Americans support the Patriot Act's renewal

published 1 June 2015

A new CNN/ORC poll, which surveyed 1,025 U.S. adults via phone from May 29 to May 31, found that 61 percent of Americans support the Patriot Act's renewal, while just 36 percent of respondents were opposed to renewing the law. Among Republicans, the support was even greater: 73 percent of Republican respondents supported renewing the law, while 63 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of independents said the same.

Respondents disagreed about whether Congress' letting the Patriot Act expire would actually increase the U.S.' risk of terrorism, though. Fifty-two percent of respondents agreed that without the Patriot Act's renewal, the risk of national terrorism "would remain about the same," while 44 percent believed the risk would rise.