Poll: Give Government More Power

Americans overwhelmingly want the federal government to have more authority to check out terrorist groups, according to a CBS News poll released Tuesday.

Two-thirds of Americans believe there will be more terrorist bombings in the United States in the next year or so, while just one in four believe the bomb set off at the Olympics early Saturday was a random act not likely to be repeated soon, according to the poll for CBS’ “48 Hours.”

As an antidote, 80 percent believe the federal government should have more power to investigate terrorists, but just 52 percent believe wiretaps should be expanded.

Three out of five said they still favor giving the government more power even if groups unrelated to terrorism were investigated, too.

Even if it cost more, nearly nine out of 10 people surveyed want more checkpoints, guards and metal detectors - and they’d be willing to wait longer in lines - at public events.

The telephone poll was conducted Monday with a random sample of 605 adults. Its percentage of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.