A popular legal talk radio show broadcasting in Northeast Ohio on Newstalk 1420 WHK, Real Law Radio (www.reallawradio.net) just recently conducted its very own survey that shows voters don't know what the debt ceiling is.

     During the survey, RLR relied upon this  definition of "debt ceiling":  the legal limit above which the Treasury  Department can not borrow.  Any description by a respondent that was  substantially equivalent to this definition qualified the respondent as one who knew what the debt ceiling was.

     The respondents in this informal survey were found at shopping centers in the Cleveland metro area from July 13-15.  They comprised a roughly 50-50 split of men and women. All were required to demonstrated that they were at least of voting age.  No other inquiry was made of their background.  No inquiry was made of their political affiliation.  258 people participated.

     RLR asked each participant: 1) what is the debt ceiling; and 2) should the debt ceiling be raised or lowered?

     RLR found that 69% of respondents did not know what the debt ceiling was. While 31% respondents knew or had a good working definition of the debt ceiling. And surprisingly, of those who did not know what the debt ceiling was, more than 2/3 of them offered the opinion that it should be lowered.

       Of those 31% who knew what the debt ceiling was, 2/3 of them thought the it should be raised, 1/3 said it should be lowered.

      This survey was unique in that it required all respondents to verbalize their own knowledge about the debt ceiling, rather than fill out a form. During the interaction between the respondent and the RLR associate, no clues or prompting of any kind was offered.  This ensured that each respondent had an unassisted opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of the subject at hand.

     In the end, most could not express to RLR what the debt ceiling was.

     There is a genuine lack of informed opinion on the subject of the debt ceiling.  And that's pretty concerning, especially given the national  importance of this issue and the correspondingly high level of media coverage and debate that has occurred on the subject.  

-    For Real Law Radio:

     Eric McVicker

     Robert F. DiCello

     www.reallawradio.net