More than twice as many people in the United States agree with Senator Rand Paul in ending the bulk collection of data on Americans’ phone communications by the National Security Agency (NSA).

A new poll from Morning Consult found that 27 percent of Americans took the same view as the Republican senator from Kentucky, compared to 12 percent who want the NSA spying program to remain in place without modification.

The survey also found that 42 percent of respondents believe the provisions of the Patriot Act that allow the NSA to collect so-called metadata should be extended with some modifications.

The Patriot Act expired on Monday as lawmakers failed to reauthorize it in its original form. Paul single-handedly blocked the Senate from extending the NSA’s bulk records surveillance authority.

Surveillance hawks, including Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, want a temporary reauthorization of NSA surveillance powers under the Patriot Act.

The USA Freedom Act, a bill originally introduced in both houses of the US Congress in 2013, was re-introduced in April, based upon a modified version of the one which failed in the Senate in 2013.

On Sunday, the Senate voted to limit debate on the USA Freedom Act. However, Senate rules will allow it to be passed after the NSA mass surveillance programs have expired.

The NSA program has worried privacy advocates since it was exposed to journalists two years ago by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, now a fugitive in Russia.

Snowden disclosed the extent of the agency’s spying activities in June 2013. He leaked classified intelligence documents showing massive collections of phone records of Americans and foreign nationals as well as political leaders around the world.

AHT/GJH