I previously slammed this awful Rasmussen poll question about President Bush’s no-warrant wiretap program:

Should the National Security Agency be allowed to intercept telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the United States?

As I wrote, the obvious answer is yes, but the question is whether the NSA should have to obtain a warrant before doing so. The question fails to mention the warrant issue, and therefore the widely touted figure of 64 percent approval for Bush’s policy is meaningless.

Via Atrios and Think Progress, here is a much better question from a new Associated Press poll (PDF), which yields very different results:

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?

Should be required to get
a warrant…………………………………… 56
Should be allowed to monitor
without a warrant……………………….. 42
Not sure………………………………….. 2

Will the Wall Street Journal editorial board, Pat Buchanan and the many others who touted the Rasmussen poll retract or modify their previous comments? Not likely.