Opinion: ACORN lives! Oh, wait.

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Conservative economist Bruce Bartlett recently wrote a post for the Fiscal Times accusing Republicans of becoming dangerously infatuated with the ‘tea party,’ many of whose members ‘simply don’t know what they are talking about.’ It included this tidbit in support:

For example, a March 15, 2011, poll by Public Policy Polling found that 25 percent of Republicans expect that a group called ACORN is going to steal the election for [President] Obama next year and 31 percent aren’t sure; only 43 percent of Republicans believe this is false. In point of fact, ACORN no longer even exists, and it’s doubtful that it could have stolen a local election for dog catcher even if it wanted to.

We often find ourselves defending the defenseless here at The Times’ Opinion Manufacturing Division. So in that spirit, let me say that Bartlett’s aiming at the wrong target. I’d bet my lunch money that if you asked Democrats whether they expect the Koch brothers to defeat Obama by circulating a fraudulent birth certificate from Kenya, the responses would be similar.

The problem is the poll, not the responses. If you ask the question the right way, you can get lots of people to say -- and even believe -- ridiculous things. That’s why polls aren’t just a means of gauging the public’s sentiment but also of shaping it.

The question about ACORN came out of left field, nestled in the middle of a series of inquiries about possible GOP presidential candidates. Respondents may understandably have assumed that ACORN was a viable group simply because they were being asked about it. After all, how many times do sports fans cast votes for well-known athletes on all-star ballots, even when those players are injured or having bad years?

There’s also a faction within every group that believes their position is so much wiser and more appealing to the public that the only way they can lose is if the other side cheats.

Granted, it helps that some news outlets have continued writing about ACORN; for example, consider this FoxNews.com piece about some of the group’s former members continuing to have dues deducted from their bank accounts. Still, I’d be amazed if more than a handful of the likely GOP primary voters surveyed by Public Policy Polling had given a moment’s thought to ACORN this year, let alone worrying about the role it might play in 2012.

So what’s the point in asking the question? I haven’t heard back from Dean Debnam, the Raleigh, N.C. pollster behind the survey, but if I do, I’ll append his answer to this post. The Raleigh News & Observer describes Debnam as a ‘reliable Democratic donor,’ by the way.

-- Jon Healey