NEW YORK, Aug. 19 (Xinhuanet) --A new poll released Friday finds that most New Yorkers are in favor of random bag searches by police in the city's mass transit system.

    Of the 1,600 registered voters polled, 72 percent say they have no problems with the city's random bag checks of subway and bus passengers.

    Along racial lines, the poll finds 78 percent of whites say the searches are a good thing, and 68 percent of blacks and 67 percent of Hispanics also agree with the measure.

    Along party lines, 89 percent of Republicans support the searches, while only 67 percent of Democrats are in favor.

    However, 55 percent of those polled say the added security measures should not violate basic civil liberties.

    Broken down by party, 60 percent of Republicans say they are willing to give up some civil liberties, but 62 percent of Democrats say the government should take steps to prevent terrorism, but not if they violate people's civil liberties.

    Random searches of packages and backpacks carried by people entering city subways began last month in the wake of bomb attacksin the London subways and the searches have raised some questions about civil liberties while gained support from the majority of local residents.

    "Even in a city touchy about civil rights, New Yorkers pick a bag search over the threat of being blown up," said Quinnipiac polling director Maurice Carroll, but he noted that most voters donot want to give government too much power.

    Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a frequent rider of the subway, said on his weekly radio show Friday that the searches are an attempt at "making sure there are things going on that are unpredictable."

    The telephone poll of 1,601 registered voters in New York City was conducted during the week that ended Monday. It has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points for the overall poll. Enditem