The political world is filled with polls that are targeted toward audiences that agree with the questions. These polls are generally sent only to those who are predisposed to "positive" answers to the questions. The Democratic National Committee does it. The Republican National Committee does it. News media with a particular slant do it. Political offshoots of all kinds do it.
I generally avoid polls of all kinds, no matter what the source. I don't even like the follow-up calls from businesses with whom I plan to buy again and again.
My Congressional Representative, Chip Cravaack, is one of the worst offenders in the biased presentation of polls. His latest is about "What Would You Cut", a list of three items he would like to cut from the budget - replacing TSA employees with private contractors, dispose of excess baggage scanners, and "Terminate a National Science Foundation program aimed at shaping public opinion on climate change". On the last he writes, "A review of prior grants made by the program shows a repeated pattern of funding activities intended to sway public opinion on a controversial topic about which the facts remain in heated dispute." The controversy is coming from those who ignore the facts and have a lot of money to lose if there is to be a serious mitigation of climate change.
This particular poll is at http://cravaack.house.gov/press-releases/cravaack-what-would-youcut/ as of 2012-05-15. Cravaack's staff will probably reuse this URL for a subsequent poll.
Rather than submit my answers, I sent the following webmail to Rep. Cravaack:
"With regard to your "What would you cut" email and many others, please have a chat with Bill Frenzel on how to communicate with constituents.
Rep. Frenzel wrote facts about what Congress was doing, not what he wanted constituents to agree with.
Each one of your "What would you cut" items makes it very clear what you want constituents to answer.
There are many much larger costs for things that are not really needed but have large constituencies supporting them.
I hope I don't have to tell you what these are; that would tell you what my biases are."
Bill Frenzel was the Representative from the suburbs of Minneapolis. He would be considered a RINO by today's Republicans. He wrote quite interesting newsletters about Congress that hardly ever touted what he was doing.
