Air Travelers Don't Care About Extra Security

Most American who will pass through airports this weekend don’t care if they are closely examined, screened, or even touched. Perhaps the bomb scare on a Detroit bound plane last year has caused this attitude or the bombs recently placed on planes flown from Europe.

A new Gallup poll “asked those who have flown two or more times in the past year about the full-body scans and pat-downs the Transportation Security Administration is now using at many U.S. airports as a means to prevent acts of terrorism. The majority (57%) say they are not bothered by the prospect of undergoing a full-body scan at airport security checkpoints. The same percentage, however, say they are bothered, if not angry, about the prospect of undergoing a full-body pat-down. Still, fewer than one in three frequent air travelers are “angry” about undergoing either procedure.”

Another reasons travelers may not be bothered the procedure is the 24% of them have already been through it at least once. It must not have been much of an experience.

“Results for this USA Today/Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Nov. 19-21, 2010, with a random sample of 3,018 adults, aged 18 and older, living in the continental U.S., selected using random-digit-dial sampling.”

Douglas A. McIntyre