Surveying Our Readers

“Let Your Voice Be Heard!” trumpets a four-page survey inserted (with a postage-paid envelope) in the centerfold of the July 6 issue of The New American. Prepared by our marketing department, the survey is intended to help us better understand our target audience for TNA, how we are doing in terms of satisfying the needs of that audience, and how we might do better — both in terms of pleasing our existing subscriber base as well as expanding the base.

The survey is available not just in printed form but also online. If you are a TNA subscriber, please complete the survey right away.

The more surveys we receive, the better. If you prefer not to answer some of the demographic questions intended to help us identity our target audience, that’s fine — just leave any questions you’d rather not answer blank. All surveys will be destroyed once the information is compiled.

Anyone filling out the survey online will receive a code at the end of the survey for a 15 percent discount at ShopJBS.org and also be entered into a drawing for a $50 Visa gift card. The time you devote to the survey to help us do a better job is much appreciated!

“Freedom Index”

As promised last month, our first installment of the “Freedom Index” for the new 111th Congress appeared in the July 20 issue of TNA. If you have not already done so, please check out the voting records of your U.S. representative and senators. As always, please commend your legislators for their constitutional votes while urging improvement where needed.

Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, plenty of improvement is needed! The average House score in the July 20 “Freedom Index” is 38 percent and the average Senate score is 34 percent. Yet, 100 percent scores are not only achievable but should be expected of all congressmen. If such an expectation seems unrealistically high, consider this: our standard for the index is the U.S. Constitution, and every member of Congress takes an oath to uphold that document.

In the House, three congressmen earned perfect scores: John Duncan (Tenn.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), and Ron Paul (Texas). In the Senate, Tom Coburn (Okla.) was the sole 100 percenter. You may want to send notes congratulating them on their 100-percent scores.

Also, we recommend sharing the “Freedom Index” with others so they too will know how their lawmakers are voting. The current index is available not only in the printed magazine but also online at http://www.thenewamerican.com/files/Freedom_Index_111-1.pdf. 

Correction Please!

In the July 20 “Freedom Index,” an error occurred while generating the vote key. It caused the entire column of pluses and minuses for Senate Vote #6 to be wrong. In that column, all minuses should be pluses and all pluses should be minuses. This error additionally skewed the percentages assigned the senators. Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, who was assigned a score of 90 percent, actually earned 100 percent — making him the only senator to achieve a perfect score. The description of Senate Vote #6 accurately describes how we intended to score the vote. 

We have corrected the online (PDF) version of this July 20 “Freedom Index.” We encourage readers to download the PDF and use it to share with others. The online version is available at: http://www.thenewamerican.com/files/Freedom_Index_111-1.pdf.

 We deeply apologize for this error. 

ACTION SUMMARY

Please participate in our reader survey.