The results of a new Harris Poll are something of a paradox. When asked separately about seven of the most important bills that were passed by the last Congress, including those passed in the very productive lame duck session in December, majorities of those who are familiar with them rate each of them "good" rather than "bad". The three most popular bills, rated "good" by the most people who are familiar with them, are the 9/11 First Responders bill (88%), the bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits (73%), and the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law (68%).

However, when the public is shown the list of the seven bills and asked about them "all together", a substantial 61% to 39% majority of all adults rates them negatively. In an earlier question, before any of the specific bills were mentioned, a 46% to 33% plurality of all adults rated "the new laws passed over the last two years" negatively, with 21% not sure.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,566 adults surveyed online between January 17 and 24, 2011 by Harris Interactive.

Some of the other interesting results of this poll are:

• Familiarity with the 7 bills in the list varies greatly. Fully 80% of all adults are very or somewhat familiar with the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law. 77% are familiar with the Health Care Reform bill. 72% are familiar with the bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits. 68% are familiar with stimulus package of increased government spending and tax cuts. 56% are familiar with the 9/11 First Responders health care bill. But only 37% are familiar with the ratification of the Start 2 Nuclear Arms Control bill, and only 39% are familiar with the Financial Regulation bill (the Dodd Frank Bill);

• Approval of the bills by those who are very or somewhat familiar with them also varies greatly, with between 88% and 51% rating them "good" rather than "bad". The most popular bills are the 9/11 First Responders bill (88% good) and the bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits (73%). Also very popular are the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law (68%), the ratification of Start 2 (67%), and the Financial Regulation bill (63%). The people familiar with the other two bills – the stimulus package and the Health Care Reform bill are split almost equally (51% to 49% for both) between those who think them good or bad;

• Unsurprisingly there is a huge partisan split in attitudes to these pieces of legislation, with Republicans tending to be much more negative and Democrats much more positive about the legislation. However, large majorities of Republicans think that two of these pieces of legislation are "good" – the 9/11 First Responders bill (82%) and the extension of the Bush-era tax-cuts and unemployment benefits (89%). Large majorities of Republicans think that each of the other five pieces of legislation are "bad".

So What?

These findings suggest several conclusions about public opinion and how it is formed and influenced. One conclusion is that the big picture - how people feel overall - is not the sum of all the small pictures, or how people feel about the details. It is also clear that emotions tend to trump detailed analysis; rhetoric often trumps information; and that partisanship often trumps rational analysis. All of this confirms that Democracy is messy, and the truth of Churchill's famous remark that Democracy is the worst form of government – except for all of the others.