Object

Liberty Foundation Poll

Jane Cleery cites the Liberty Foundation poll's 68%-59% results in the Republican cloakroom, providing her senator cover to vote no on foreign aid. Josh reacts with outrage, decrying poll-driven cowardice as the numbers blindside his vote-counting efforts. Staffers reference it amid tense banter and a quorum buzzer, sharpening the bill's one-vote shortfall.

2 appearances

Purpose

Supplies polling data on public opinion toward foreign aid to justify a senator's opposing vote

Significance

Catalyzes the senator's defection from yes to no, collapsing Josh's vote strategy and thrusting the foreign aid bill into crisis one vote short

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

2 moments

S4E12 · Guns Not Butter

Cloakroom Count: One Vote Short

The Liberty Foundation poll is introduced as the decisive external artifact giving the senator political cover to defect; its numbers (68%/59%) are quoted verbatim and pivot the room from banter to crisis by legitimizing a no vote.

Before: Conducted or about to be released externally; known to the senator's office and circulating among staff as imminent evidence.

After: Cited publicly as justification for the senator's position; functionally converts private opposition into defensible public posture.

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S4E12 · Guns Not Butter

One Vote Down — Poll Cover and the Quorum Call

The Liberty Foundation poll is the catalytic object: Jane cites its imminent release and its specific numbers (68%/59%) as the explicit political cover enabling the senator's no vote. It functions narratively as the outside force that converts private preference into defensible public action.

Before: Imminently scheduled for release; known to cloakroom staff and being used as a political datum but not yet public among the wider press.

After: Invoked as justification in the cloakroom; its impending publication has already altered senators' behavior by providing media cover.

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