Is Digital Privacy Becoming a Partisan Issue?

[Commentary] In a Congress where lawmakers have trouble performing even the most basic functions of the legislative branch—funding the government or approving judicial nominees, to name two—bipartisan issues are a rarity. Historically, digital privacy has been one of the areas where Republicans and Democrats find common ground. The coalitions that support surveillance-reform measures, for example, have brought together Congressional liberals and libertarians, Tea Partiers and moderates. But even as lawmakers work together on new privacy legislation, the increasingly public legal fight between Apple and the FBI is beginning to reveal partisan fault lines among the American public.

Two recent polls show that Americans’ allegiances in the Apple-FBI conflict are split by party. One poll, conducted in mid-February by Reuters, showed that 54 percent of Democrats supported Apple, compared to just 37 percent of Republicans. Another poll, conducted a few days later by Morning Consult, found a similar split, but less support for Apple: 49 percent of Democrats said Apple should cooperate with the FBI, compared to 57 percent of Republicans. (A Pew poll conducted around the same time showed no partisan differences, but has been criticized for imprecisely phrased questions.) A similar divide is on display among presidential candidates. If Congress moves soon to resolve the dispute at the heart of the Apple-FBI case, there exist cross-party coalitions of digital-security-savvy lawmakers who could band together to pass a law. But if Americans’ appetite for government intrusions into their digital lives begins to split again among party lines, a future Congress may find itself gridlocked even on privacy.