<x-flowed UTF-8>We seem to have strayed into one of my areas of research, which cannot be a good sign.

No, I wouldn't think it makes much sense to use voluntary opt-in percentages as a measure of public support for collective action.

The foreign aid example actually is equivocal, because studies have shown that many respondents vastly overestimate U.S. foreign aid expenditures, and state that they support expenditures substantially higher than the actual status quo. (What, if anything, that proves is surely beyond the scope of this list.)

I myself don't know of any studies that attempt to probe the circumstances under which Americans would or wouldn't support expanding public financing of campaigns -- but I simply haven't looked.

Mark Lindeman
Bard College

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