Rasmussen has a new poll on Censure. Only 38% surveyed support Censure. Only one slight problem - the question is worded completely differently.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/March%20Dailies/Censure.htm
More below the fold.
Here's the question Rasmussen asked.
"Senator Russ Feingold has introduced a measure to censure, or publicly reprimand, President Bush for authorizing the NSA wiretapping program. Should President Bush be censured for authorizing the NSA wiretapping program?"
Notice a problem with this question? What's that? No reference to FISA, or whether Bush's authorization of NSA wiretapping might break the law? Hmm...I wonder if that might affect the results of the question.
Asking people whether they support censure without indicating WHY a censure might be appropriate is pretty lazy and sleazy if you ask me. Perhaps Rasmussen thinks adding a phrase such as "breaking the law" might slant the question, but there are any number of ways to solve that problem. Perhaps something like this would work:
"Senator Russ Feingold has introduced a measure to censure, or publicly reprimand, President Bush for authorizing the NSA wiretapping program. Some people believe that the NSA wiretapping program violates the law because wiretapping normally requires a court ordered warrant. Others believe the President has the authority to authorize wiretapping without court approval. Should President Bush be censured for authorizing the NSA wiretapping program?"
That's just my poor attempt at it, but I'm sure others could develop a much more balanced question than what Rasmussen asked. But in the meantime, How much do you want to bet that this poll gets more media exposure than ARG's poll?