The curious results

of a "real" on-line poll. Published in the Wall Street Journal, no less.

The online survey of 2,242 U.S. adults found an overwhelming majority (96%) of Americans "strongly" or "somewhat" favor Medicare, the medical assistance program for the elderly and disabled, while 91% say they support Medicaid, the program to assist people with very low incomes.

The poll also showed high support for policies or practices that are considered more controversial. Eighty-seven percent of those polled say they support funding of international HIV prevention and treatment programs, while 75% favor universal health insurance, compared with 17% who oppose it. Another 70% support embryonic stem-cell research, compared with about 19% who oppose it.

If these results could be validated by subsequent polls, only two questions would be left:

(1) Did Katrina shake things up more than anyone has yet realized? and

(2) When do we get our representative democracy back?