The Monkey Cage

I suppose they could have worded the question:

“As you may know, the filibuster is a Senate procedure which has been used to prevent the Senate from passing BAD legislation or confirming BAD appointments by the President…”

I think that might have generated just about the same type of response.

I mean, come on, could they at least try to avoid bias?

The power of Plain Blog: I ask for a polling question, and CNN goes back in time a couple of days to insert it into their poll, so they can release it a few hours before I post.

Wait a second. Only 56% of the public supports the filibuster? Sorry, but that’s not enough. It should only be preserved if 60% support it.

It would be interesting to see how the numbers shift if CNN referred to it as “the modern filibuster, a procedure invented in 1975.”

poorly worded question. some support filibuster because they oppose bill, some support procedure.

Yes, note the question refers to stopping “controversial appointments” or “controversial legislation.” Given that it is now being used routinely to stop all manner of business, the question skirts the real issue.

You afe talking about the American public here.

The second question should have been: Do you know what a filibuster is?

Yes: 14%
No: 86%

My favorite quote of all time from Winston Churchill: The best argument against democracy is spending 5 minutes with the avg voter.

TPM just posted an interesting observation. The original purpose of the filibuster was to have unlimited debate, for whatever means. But the “modern” filibuster does nothing of the sort. In fact it does the opposite — it keeps debate from happening. Koger’s observation that the airplane put an end to the old fashioned filibuster seems to be missing the fact that the information age has accelerated debate. Does the filibuster really make any sense?