--- description: According to a Pew survey title: Poll: Public Sides With FBI on Unlocking Terror Suspect's iPhone image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7b472767a5f6a2c6/69887ea58e0601d1a2464b81/fbi_apple.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Poll: Public Sides With FBI on Unlocking Terror Suspect's iPhone by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 23, 2016 12:40 AM CUT  A man walks in front of the Apple logo during a product announcement event from the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, Sept. 9, 2015. A man walks in front of the Apple logo during a product announcement event from the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, Sept. 9, 2015.Monica Davey—EPA by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 23, 2016 12:40 AM CUT More Americans [side with the FBI](http://www.people-press.org/2016/02/22/more-support-for-justice-department-than-for-apple-in-dispute-over-unlocking-iphone/ "undefined") than with Apple on the question of [whether the tech giant should create software to unlock an iPhone](http://time.com/4227044/apple-order-hack-iphone-san-bernardino/ "undefined") that belonged to one of the San Bernardino terror suspects. In a Pew survey of 1,002 adults conducted from Feb. 18 to 21, 51% said Apple should unlock the phone, compared with 38% who said it should not and 11% who did not have an opinion. Approximately equal shares of Republicans (56%) and Democrats (55%) said Apple should unlock the phone, while Independents were more evenly split among themselves on the issue, with 45% supporting the FBI and 42% supporting Apple. Among iPhone owners, 47% said the phone should be unlocked, compared with 43% who felt it should not in order to protect other users’ privacy and security. \[[Pew](http://www.people-press.org/2016/02/22/more-support-for-justice-department-than-for-apple-in-dispute-over-unlocking-iphone/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4233362/san-bernardino-iphone-unlock-fbi-public-opinion/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4233362/san-bernardino-iphone-unlock-fbi-public-opinion/"},"headline":"Poll: Public Sides With FBI on Unlocking Terror Suspect's iPhone","datePublished":"2016-02-23T00:40:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:16:56.350Z","description":"According to a Pew survey","url":"https://time.com/4233362/san-bernardino-iphone-unlock-fbi-public-opinion/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7b472767a5f6a2c6/69887ea58e0601d1a2464b81/fbi_apple.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7b472767a5f6a2c6/69887ea58e0601d1a2464b81/fbi_apple.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"File Apple FBI","caption":"File Apple FBI","creditText":"Monica Davey—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4233362/san-bernardino-iphone-unlock-fbi-public-opinion/","name":"Poll: Public Sides With FBI on Unlocking Terror Suspect's iPhone"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: Apple Refuses to Share San Bernardino Shooter’s iPhone Info","description":"Apple will resist a federal court order to hack into an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/JHyWU9Ub/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-02-17T14:43:58.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JHyWU9Ub.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4233362/san-bernardino-iphone-unlock-fbi-public-opinion/","duration":"PT1M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4233362/san-bernardino-iphone-unlock-fbi-public-opinion/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```