The petition is not evidence of the public being against what the administration is doing, as it only represents the people who want Edward Snowden pardoned, not the "opposite" view, if such a view exists.
Edit: This is a response to several of the replies. I'm assuming of course that nobody within the government would game the petition system. If we've gotten to the point were they would impersonate people in a petition to the white house then I guess we are pretty much doomed.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/17/cnn-poll-maj...