re: #15 Dark_Falcon

Well this poll is a ‘registered voters’ poll which is the “silver standard” for polling in my eyes. But I found it noteworthy that the poll did not do a breakdown of respondents by party affiliation or age. Absent those qualifications, the poll might have been unintentionally skewed.

The polling breakouts are here:

Traitor 34% Rep 41% Dem 36% Ind 31%
Whistleblower Tot 57% Rep 50% Dem 55% Ind 62%
DK/NA 9/9/9/7

In other words, Dem/GOP is pretty even on Snowden as whistleblower, but like Charles, Snowden’s actions fall between traitor and whistleblower. If I were asked among these options, traitor is what I’d probably do. He engaged in espionage. He undermined national security and leaked classified information to those who might wish to do the nation harm.

What’s interesting is that the poll found no movement on whether he’s a traitor or whistleblower from July 2013 until now (Jan 9). It’s all within margin of error move - a 2 point move from DK/NA to whistle blower.

As for whether Obama Admin should drop pursuit of Snowden, it’s consistent across party affiliation that they shouldn’t.

Total/R/D/I: 47/50/48/47 say they shouldn’t drop pursuit versus 39/37/34/43. Self reporting liberals suggest that they’d more likely want Obama to drop pursuit than continue 47/43, but it’s flipped for moderates and conservatives.

It also has a similar response based on household income and age.
Under $50k and those 18-29 were more likely to want pursuit dropped than to continue going after him.

The demographics for the poll are here.

Party ID: R-26, D-28, I-37.
Political Philosophy Lib-31, Mod-38, Cons-37.
Household income: Under $50k-42%, $50-100k-26%, and 20% for over $100k.