Is the Public Misinformed?

My class is beginning a new unit in which we are required to research and write a paper on the history of polls regarding our issue. As you know, my issue is embryonic stem cell research which is an issue that is a lot more recent than I actually knew. While I just began my research, so far the earliest poll I have found is from 2001! However, even more interesting, is that I found something out about this issue that I never understood (a misinformed citizen with an opinion!!). I don't know how many people actually understand this (or it could just be me) but when Bush banned federal funding for this research, he never took away ALL the funding. His policy centered around the science that kills embryos for this research. In other words, he never cut funding for research on stem cells that had already been extracted from embryos, just future embryos that had not been touched yet. While this does not change my opinion on this issue, it is a very important piece of information that may change others' opinions. I thought Bush banned all types of funding not just selected types. This just goes to show that ordinary people who think they know something don't really know something (myself included). This information came from the Gallup Organization's publication, "The Gallup Poll - Public Opinion 2001."