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Polls say Americans are concerned about National Security Agency surveillance. According to a progressive group’s survey, many want to see a top intelligence official punished for giving Congress inaccurate answers about the NSA’s efforts.

An internal NSA audit, released Thursday by The Washington Post, found that the agency has violated privacy rules thousands of times every year since 2008. But even before those revelations, a majority of voters in five state-level polls said that James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, should be prosecuted for giving Congress a “clearly erroneous” answer about NSA surveillance.

The five polls were conducted by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has raised money for NSA leaker Edward Snowden’s defense fund.

There is no longer any doubt that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lied to Congress. Likewise, there is no doubt that his lie runs afoul of federal law. And, of course, there is no doubt that in terms of its implications for oversight, constitutional precepts and privacy for millions of Americans, his lies were far more serious than those that have gotten other people prosecuted for perjury. The question now is whether his brazen dishonesty will become a political issue — or whether it will simply disappear into the ether.

As evidenced by President Obama this week attempting to promote Clapper to head an “independent” NSA reform panel, the White House clearly believes it will be the latter. But a set of new polls out today suggests such a calculation may be wrong.

Commissioned by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Credo and conducted by Public Policy Polling in five ideologically diverse states, the surveys find that huge majorities want Clapper prosecuted.

Democratic New Jersey U.S. Senate candidate Cory Booker said he supports expanding Social Security and Medicare hours following a press conference Thursday where his opponents challenged the popular Newark mayor on the issue.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee held a morning rally in Trenton with Booker’s opponents, Rep. Frank Pallone, Rep. Rush Holt and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver pressing Booker on the Social Security issue. Later Booker took to Twitter to say that he wants to expand, not cut Social Security and Medicare, and that he opposes raising the retirement age. A week ago Booker told NorthJersey.com that he would consider voting to raise the retirement age for those in their 20s or younger.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is behind the ad, and they released some polling earlier this week as well, showing that 82 percent of Kentuckians favor criminal background checks for gun owners (versus 13 opposed) and 50 percent favored an assault weapons ban (versus 42 opposed). It was conducted by Public Policy polling, rated by Fordham University as the most accurate pollster in 2012.
Now, in more PPP polling results released first to The Nation, we see that hitting McConnell for his gun industry backing is indeed fertile territory in Kentucky.

A progressive group attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on gun control is expanding its ad buy through Tuesday after receiving thousands of donations following the initial airing of the ad. The ad, launched by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, began airing earlier this week. Within the first 24 hours of its airing, PCCC raised over $25,000 from more than 1,500 small-dollar donations, and it has raised overall $50,000 from more than 3,000 donations since it began.

That money raised will go towards airing the ad during the upcoming Cardinals basketball game, the Sunday morning political talk shows in Lexington and Louisville, Ky., and to bracket the State of the Union in both Kentucky and Washington, D.C.

A group whose aim is to elect progressive Democrats to Congress released an ad Tuesday hitting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for opposing gun control legislation while receiving campaign donations from gun manufacturers. The spot, from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, will run on broadcast and cable television in McConnell’s home state, as well as in Washington, D.C., including on CNN.

Republican Mitch McConnell knows that as Republican Senate Minority Leader and a symbol of the party establishment, he’s the target of conservatives, tea partyers and others on the right… But now some progressives have him in their sights, believing the Kentucky Republican’s opposition to gun reform offer Democrats a foothold in McConnell’s 2014 re-election race.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee on Tuesday launched an ad campaign against McConnell over his gun stance.

A group called the Progressive Change Campaign Committee is hitting Mitch McConnell this morning with a new ad campaign in both Kentucky and Washington, D.C. It features Kentuckian Rodney Kendrick of Berea.

Voters in Virginia, Illinois and New Hampshire favor raising marginal tax rates on income over $250,000 by almost two-thirds in each state, according to new polling data from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling and commissioned by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee provided to TPM.

The truth is that on every prominent economic issue of our time, the public overwhelmingly agrees with the progressive position. If 74 percent of voters oppose cuts to Medicare benefits and only 17 percent support them (which is true in New Hampshire), progressives insisting on the 74 percent position is different than the Tea Party insisting on the 17 percent position. One is democracy. The other is fringe incalcitrance. Equating the two is either ignorant or dishonest, but in either case destructive. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee did our homework and hired the No. 1 most-accurate pollster of 2012, Public Policy Polling, to poll New Hampshire voters on these fiscal issues (with more states to come). As the Union Leader’s John DiStaso reported, huge majorities of voters in the “Live Free Or Die” state support taxing the rich, oppose cutting benefits, and support cutting corporate welfare. They also say that President Obama’s mandate is not to compromise for its own sake, but to “stand up for regular families – even if that means fighting.” That’s a mandate – a mandate for “the left.” The only question is whether Democrats will use it to fight for the will of the people.

The poll gave strong indication that Granite Staters oppose cuts to Medicare and Medicaid benefits and support higher taxes for the rich. If Shaheen supported cuts to Medicare of Medicaid, 46 percent said they would be less likely to vote for her, while 35 percent said it would not make a difference, 13 percent said they would be more likely to vote for her and 7 percent were not sure, according to the poll. If Shaheen “led the national fight to raise taxes on the rich,” 48 percent said they would be more likely to vote for her, while 31 percent said they would be less likely to vote for her, 19 percent said it would not make a difference and 1 percent said they were not sure.

A new Democratic poll set to be released later Tuesday shows one way that lawmakers can start sketching out a so-called “balanced approach” to averting the fiscal cliff that could gain the support of voters. Proposals to reduce spending on the military, cut some agriculture subsidies, and eliminate subsidies to oil companies would all win public backing by large margins, according to the poll conducted for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, obtained by POLITICO. More specifically, the poll found that 53 percent of voters would support defense cuts, 79 percent would back cutting subsidies to agriculture corporations and 80 percent would favor getting rid of the oil subsidies. It surveyed voters in New Hampshire, a key swing state. Those policy measures polled by the PCCC came in part from Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator-elect from Massachusetts. During her campaign, Warren called for a “balanced approach” that would include trimming agriculture subsidies and cutting the budget to the Pentagon, as well higher taxes on the wealthy.

A left-leaning poll of New Hampshire voters offers some advice to the next person in New Hampshire’s political cross hairs: Jeanne Shaheen. Shaheen, a Democrat, has to defend her U.S. Senate seat in 2014. Trying to unseat her will no doubt be the top priority of New Hampshire Republican leaders as they try to recover from disappointment at the polls earlier this month. The Progressive Campaign Change Committee surveyed Granite Staters on issues that sprang from the 2012 campaign… The findings confirm the group’s belief that a majority of New Hampshire voters clearly want Shaheen to continue to support ending the Bush tax cuts for wealthy individuals and small-business owners on Jan. 1. A clear majority also said they would oppose making significant changes to benefits given to seniors who receive Social Security or Medicare. Sixty-six percent supported raising taxes for those earning more than $250,000 a year, with 29 percent opposed to it. Only 13 percent wanted to cut spending on Social Security, and 17 percent had the stomach for reducing Medicare obligations.

Commissioned by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal political action committee based in Washington, D.C., is being used not only to tout the electoral benefits of a ‘D,’ but to show broad support generally among Vermonters for one of the party’s defining policies: single-payer health care. The poll found that 53 percent of Vermonters “approve of Vermont going forward with Green Mountain Care, a single-payer health care system that will guarantee coverage for everyone in the state.” The survey found that 38 percent disapprove.

Earlier this month, PCCC member and minimum-wage worker, Eva Lister, testified before the Connecticut General Assembly to share with legislators what a minimum wage increase would mean for Connecticut working families. Days later, the body’s Labor Committee passed a bill that would increase the minimum wage to $9.25/hr. Today’s polling shows that voters want legislators to pass $9.75 or higher.

The most instructive number inside a new Public Policy Poll survey of Illinois’ 10th District Democratic primary may be 64. That’s the percentage of voters who favor a “progressive,” compared to the 25 percent who’d like a “moderate.”

The spread would appear to favor Ilya Sheyman, who has the backing of Howard Dean, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and MoveOn.org, the two groups that paid for the poll.

In the north suburban Illinois Tenth House Democratic primary contest, a new poll taken by a group backing Ilya Sheyman shows Sheyman ahead by two points of Brad Schneider but in a statistical tie. John Tree, who jumped in the race late, is behind. The poll shows the situation before the March 20 Illinois primary very fluid: 49 percent are not sure who they want.

Voters last week sent Washington a strong message about fixing the federal budget, according to exclusive numbers from a new poll obtained by TPM: Raise taxes on the wealthy and cut the military budget before you touch the nation’s largest entitlement program, Social Security.