The AP question of January 7, 2006:
Should the Bush administration be required to get a warrant from a judge before monitoring phone and internet communications between American citizens in the United States and suspected terrorists, or should the government be allowed to monitor such communications without a warrant?
56 yes - 43 no - 2 not sureJanuary 7, 2006: AP/Ipsos Poll: Most Say U.S. Needs Warrant
This poll oversampled DEMs, and the reader can blow past the phrase "and suspected terrorists" pretty easily. In that case, the question in the reader's mind would reduce to, "Should a warrant be required to monitor communications between American citizens in the United States?"
Also notice that the question does not introduce the limitation of foreign calls. Not that we know for sure the surveillance is limited to that, just saying that people will be more accepting of warrantless monitoring of their foreign calls if their domestic calls are not caught in the same surveillance.
The Rasmussen question of December 26-27, 2005:
Should the National Security Agency be allowed to intercept telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the United States?
64 yes - 23 nohttp://www.rasmussenreports.com/2005/NSA.htm
This question says NOTHING about obtaining a warrant, but I have to concede that in the context of the survey and timely news, many poll subjects may have imputed that qualification to the question. The the extent that participants figured a warrant would be involved, this result is tainted.
The CNN/USA Toady/Gallup Questions:
Question: As you may know, the Bush administration has been wiretapping telephone conversations between U.S. citizens living in the United States and suspected terrorists living in other countries without getting a court order allowing it to do so. How closely have you been following the news about this?These questions includes the international nature, the warrantless nature, and the fact that a terrorist is at the other end. I disagree with the way CNN characterized the question, it is not "total" electronic surveillance of people suspected of having ties to terrorists abroad, but only surveillance of their international calls to suspected terrorists. That is, as if the terrorist's end is tapped. I think this question resembles the Rasmussen question in that regard.
29 very closely - 46 somewhat closely - 16 not too closely - 9 not at allQuestion: Do you think the Bush administration was right or wrong in wiretapping these conversations without obtaining a court order?
46 wrong - 50 rightSAMPLE: Interviews with 1,003 adults, conducted January 6-8.
Zogby poll Questions:
If President Bush wiretapped American citizens without the approval of a judge, do you agree or disagree that Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment.This poll question omits the qualifying notions of "international calls," and "contact with suspected terrorists." The question also inserts the weasly "should Congress consider" phrase regarding impeachment. That is not the same as "should the President be," that most readers of the results will impute.
52 agree - 43 disagree - 6 don't knowSAMPLE: 1,216 adults in the U.S., conducted January 9-12
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1558790/posts
Fox News (Opinion Dynamics) Questions of January 11:
30. Do you think the president should or should not have the power to authorize the National Security Agency (NSA) to monitor electronic communications of suspected terrorists without getting warrants, even if one end of the communication is in the United States?This poll has lots of interesting questions, generally favoring the DEMs point of view and suggesting that the majority of people would prefer DEMs in power. In that light, note the oversampling of DEMs and the resulting majority in questions 30 and 31, just the same. To question 28, "Would you be willing to give up some of your personal freedom in order to reduce the treat of terrorism?" REPs are more willing (at 74%) than DEMs (at 53%).
58 should - 36 should not - 6 not sure31. In an effort to identify terrorist activity, do you think the president should or should not have the power to authorize the National Security Agency (NSA) to do computer searches of large numbers of international phone calls comings in and out of the United States without getting warrants?
60 should - 34 should not - 7 not sureSAMPLE: 900 registered voters in the U.S., conducted January 10-11
38 democrat - 33 republican - 22 independent - 4 other - 2 don't knowhttp://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,181462,00.html
http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/poll_011206.pdf <- Raw Poll
I could care less what 'polls' say, who was surveyed for the polls, and what their political affiliation is. There is a right and there is a wrong. Republicans and Democrats are in the wrong, and now we're going to have to listen to months of them blaming each other instead of doing their job.