I think that is simply symptomatic of the years without Crime & Punishment rather than a real need for Open PvE. As such, I read it as "70% are extremely disappointed with FDev's lack of C&P".
But that's my opinion because my contention is that with proper Crime & Punishment, actual crime against clean CMDRs becomes largely a non-issue because the consequences for doing so are significant. Or at least feel completely fair.
Well, in part I'm sure! But we shouldn't try to reinterpret the results of a poll to fit a new interpretation that's so far off the original wording..
'Sides, there was also that recent poll that expressed a wide degree of skepticism about how well an updated C&P system could really work to dissuade indiscriminate ganking.