Who's Getting the Shaft of the Data Mine?

Last week a Washington Post/ABC News poll came out claiming that a majority of Americans have no problem with the feds collecting their phone records. That was the headline anyway.  But with all polls, especially those which seem to offer counter-intuitive results, one should investigate further.  Two key facets to explore are the sample used (size & make-up) and the questions asked (both order and content).  In regard to the sample the Post offers this:

“A total of 502 randomly selected adults were interviewed Thursday night for this survey. Margin of sampling error is five percentage points for the overall results. The practical difficulties of doing a survey in a single night represents another potential source of error.”

Someone correct me if I am in error but don’t we usually see sample sizes well over two to three times this size (1200-1800)?  Furthermore, don’t we usually see smaller error margins as well (1.5%-3%)?  Okay, so the work is a bit slapdash, so we’ll take it with a healthy dose of salt.  Now let’s look at the questions:

43. As it conducts the war on terrorism, do you think the United States government is or is not doing enough to protect the rights of American citizens?
                               Doing too      No
             Is     Is not     much (vol.)   opin.
5/11/06      53      45             *          1

44. What do you think is more important right now - (for the federal government to investigate possible terrorist threats, even if that intrudes on personal privacy); or (for the federal government not to intrude on personal privacy, even if that limits its ability to investigate possible terrorist threats)?
            Investigate     Respect      No
             threats       privacy     opin.
5/11/06        65             31         4

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?
             ------- Acceptable ------   ----- Unacceptable ------    No  
             NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Somewhat   Strongly   opin.
5/11/06      63       41         22      35       11         24        2

46. If you found out that the NSA had a record of phone numbers that you yourself have called, would that bother you, or not? IF YES: Would it bother you a lot, or just somewhat?
            -----------Yes------------
            NET     A lot     Somewhat     No     No opin.
5/11/06     34        24         10        66         *

47. Do you think it is right or wrong for the news media to have disclosed this secret government program?
            Right     Wrong     No opin.
5/11/06       56        42          1

Question 44 sets up the false either/or choice of preserving civil liberties versus fighting terrorism and the questions that follow are built upon that theme.  Question 45 posits how the NSA is using this information.  Odd that they don’t mention that we’ve not heard of a single instance where this has proven useful.  For that matter none of the powers granted by the Patriot Act have resulted in any terrorist captures.  And yet, as this polling shows, as long as it looks like the feds are going after them then they can have free reign.  Only about a third of those polled would have any problem at all if they themselves were investigated.

But Koko scratches his furry head wondering: the vast majority of us live our day-to-day lives knowing that we pose no threat to the status quo.  So, track our calls and find out that we like pizza on Friday nights and don’t call our mothers as often as we should.  But what if more pertinent persons were being tracked?  Let’s say maybe reporters or political opponents?  

“Paranoid delusions,” you say?  Let’s hope so but then what are we to make of the FBI’s recent admission that reporters are indeed under scrutiny?   As W’s poll numbers slide ever downward we have to wonder just how far will they go to maintain their grip?  And, just have far HAVE they gone already?

That tin-foil hat is starting to look pretty tempting.