Nearly a third of young Americans support government surveillance cameras being installed in every home to reduce domestic abuse and other criminal activity, according to a new poll.
The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, polled Americans on whether they would support a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), a national digital currency being considered by the Federal Reserve. (RELATED: FBI Repeatedly Abused Surveillance Tool To Spy On Americans In Wake Of Jan. 6, Newly Unsealed Court Doc Reveals)
NEW CATO SURVEY: Nearly a third of Gen Z support the government installing surveillance cameras in every household to prevent crime and abuse.
Opposition to Orwelian-government monitoring has been assumed to be both overwhelming and obvious. But is it?
A #CatoPolls [thread]… pic.twitter.com/5BeLsp953m
— Emily Ekins (@emilyekins) June 5, 2023
As part of the survey, Cato also asked people whether they would support installing government surveillance cameras in private homes. Three quarters of respondents opposed the idea with 14% in favor and 10% who did not know. Among Americans under the age of 30, 29% were in favor of government cameras in people’s homes.
Older age groups are less likely to support the idea, as only 6% of those over the age of 45 believe government cameras should be in people’s homes.
Black Americans are more tolerant of government cameras than other racial groups, with 33% in favor of the proposal. One quarter of Hispanic Americans, 9% of white Americans and 11% of Asian Americans believe the government should monitor people’s homes.
Democrats are slightly more supportive than Republicans of cameras in private homes, polling at 17% support compared to 11% among Republicans. Within the Democratic cohort, people who considered themselves “liberal” are more in favor (19%) than “very liberal” Americans (9%).
Overall, more than half of those who supported adoption of a CBDC supported putting government cameras in people’s homes, Cato found. Cato’s polling accounted for the potential for a national CBDC to allow the government to monitor what Americans buy and potentially freeze people’s bank accounts.
“After learning about some of the potential costs and benefits of a CBDC, Americans appear wary. They are concerned about the potential for government surveillance and control of how they spend their money as well as the impact a CBDC could have on cash,” the Cato pollsters conclude.
Most Americans are generally unfamiliar with CBDCs, Cato’s polling demonstrates. Those who are made aware of the concept generally oppose. A paltry 16% support a national CBDC and 34% oppose the proposal, while 49% of respondents said they don’t know. The majority of Americans who are “very” familiar with CBDCs believe the U.S. should adopt a national digital currency, but this group skews younger, wealthy and male compared to the American people.
Cato conducted the survey with YouGov and collected responses from a politically representative sample of 2,000 Americans. The survey was taken from Feb 27 to March 8 and it has a margin of error of 2.54% either way.