Independent polling firm Schoen Cooperman Research recently conducted a nationwide poll on Americans’ views of facial recognition technology. The survey of 1,000 adults found that most Americans support the use of facial recognition across a wide range of applications.
“Americans, regardless of their background, consistently favor the use of facial recognition to enhance both safety and convenience in their daily lives,” said pollster Douglas Schoen.
Commissioned by the Security Industry Association (SIA), the survey found that while a solid majority (59%) of Americans approve of facial recognition technology generally and 68% say it can make society safer, support rises significantly when it comes to specific public and private sector applications such as:
- Airlines – 75% support
- Security at Office Buildings – 70% support
- TSA and Airport Security – 69% support
- Banks – 68% support
- School Security – 67% support
- Law Enforcement – 66% support
Significantly, the poll found that 70% of U.S. adults believe facial recognition is accurate in identifying people of all races and ethnicities. The results showed that 66% of Americans believe law enforcement’s use of facial recognition is appropriate; 54% believe that the technology can limit human bias in investigations and nearly half (47%) believe it can even reduce racial injustice and discrimination in law enforcement. A solid majority (57%) of Americans said they were comfortable having their facial image included in a database of images used for facial recognition if it were used to promote public safety.
Around 7 in 10 U.S. adults believe facial recognition can improve security systems and are comfortable with its use to improve security at their workplace or buildings they visit, in addition to its use to screen adult visitors at schools.
