Run for the hills!

Today's lesson in survey methodology comes to you from -- aw, you peeked!

Long story short, the way to ask people whether they fear the economy could collapse is to ask them whether they fear the economy could collapse. Not -- though let's give credit to Fox for putting a link to the pdf right up top -- a question like this:

Do you think it’s possible the nation’s economy could collapse or is the nation’s economy so big and strong that it could never collapse?

"Possible" questions on their own don't tend to be very interesting, because it's hard to know what they're tapping: "possible, but not bloody likely," or "ZOMG pick up some ammunition and bottled water at the Wal-Mart 'cause the Kenyan is coming for your guns and daughters," or something in between? In this particular case, there's also "possible, because the morons in Congress have yet to pay attention to the sorts of regulation that would make it far less likely." But that doesn't seem to be the point, does it?

In short, be scared. Which is sort of the whole point of this screen-grab, except for the ACORN blurb, about which you're supposed to feel triumphant. Isn't journalism fun?

UPDATE: And this just in! The current lede story, hedded "Revenge at the polls":

The economy hits unspeakable lows. The immediate provisions of health care reform fail to ease opposition. Anti-incumbent fever sweeps the nation, and Republicans ride the wave of discontent to take control of Congress.

This is the elusive sequence Republicans appear to be banking on to translate voter dissatisfaction over health care reform into a 1994-style GOP tsunami.

Am I seeing things, or is Fox more or less openly acknowledging that the core Republican strategy is now "hoping for the economy to go to hell"?