I'd still kinda like to try polling candidates and members of congress on presidential approval, but aside from that, can we get an update (or just a link if i missed it somehow) on what use and exposure the last poll got?

This needs to be addressed, i'd throw a few bones down.

-C.

Definitely.

my head will explode.

As I noted over at Unclaimed Territory earlier today:

Look at the actual wording of this new question:

45. It's been reported that the National Security Agency has been collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans. It then analyzes calling patterns in an effort to identify possible terrorism suspects, without listening to or recording the conversations. Would you consider this an acceptable or unacceptable way for the federal government to investigate terrorism? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?

Well, if that's the way the question is phrased, I'm not the least bit surprised by the results reported. It makes no mention at all of the question of the fact that the program was initiated in secret, in probable violation of several laws. It makes no mention of with or without judicial oversight, or anything else, really, that is at the heart of the controversy. It reads similarly to a question of whether they would support a law authorizing such action.

It's hardly surprising that a large number of people would support a law presented this way. What's surprising--shocking, even--is that an administration would avoid seeking legal support for such a program, given that one could expect such support.

What this poll question really does is frame the ongoing scandal in a war-on-terror frame, which is Bush's last remaining area in which he almost has majority support, as indicated by this weeks NYT/CBS poll, which contained the following levels of support for Bush's performance:

Overall 31%
Terrorism 46%
War in Iraq 29%
Economy 28%
Foreign policy 27%
Immigration 26%
Gas prices 13%

It's pretty obvious that terrorism is holding up his overall numbers. Everything else would be dragging him down. So the Post's question wording is clearly benefiting Bush.

So, if we do a poll on spying, we need to do a really thorough job questioning people about the real issues, rather than the Bush spin. In addition to Bush's lies and violations of law, we need to raise the related issues of neglected port security, spying on peaceful anti-war groups, and neglected domestic terrorist threats.

This is not to say we should ignore the Bush spin.  Rather, we should craft at least one or two questions that highlight the effect of the Bush spin, so we can contrast the distorting effect of adopting the Bush frame.  And we should do a slow roll-out, like we did last time, so that the Bush spin only comes out after the more substantive questions.

Sounds like a winner to me, count me in for some bucks.

I thought this was very effective the last time around - would definitely contribute to this effort.

No. I think this is a loser issue for Democrats. Most people don't really care so much about this. The phone company already knows who we're calling, we give our personal information away all the time. All this is is going to be framed as "Dems soft on terrorism". It takes away from corruption, the tax cuts for the rich, energy, medicare, lack of health care, the environment, and about 15 other things that are more important right now.

The press cares, and bloggers care, but I think for most people, it's way down on the list.  

Please reconsider this!

These domestic spying issues are going to get a ton of play in the media as it is, and they will almost certainly be polled by organizations that, for better or worse, will be seen as more credible.  As near as I could tell, the previous poll which we funded, and which I contributed to, got little to no attention outside of the blogs.  Simply put, there are more effective ways to spend $15,000.  

I think whatever poll we do now will be lost in the noise.  There's so many scandals and revelations these days that there's just no oxygen for it.  I gave money to the last one (which I found useful even if it was just on the blogs), but don't think the time is right now.

Sure, the overnight poll about NSA phone records had terrible questions, but more polls are sure to follow besides ours that ask better questions.  

Also, these next polls will give some time for people to learn more about what's going on.  I walked past the newspaper rack today, and it was headline after headline about NSA, NSA, "NSA watching you".  News about this latest issue is still filtering down to those that aren't political junkies... it needs to percolate for a while.

I'm in.