by David Freddoso, Online Opinion Editor Washington Examiner

Do you think your state would be better off or worse off if it left the United States and became an independent country?”

That question, asked of 1,672 adults in the latest Yahoo!/YouGov poll, is certainly provocative. So are the three others that accompany it: “Would you be better off personally” if your state seceded, do you “favor or oppose” your state seceding, and would you support a blue state-red state split of the U.S.

It’s a captivating topic. People have imagined and visually portrayed secession, especially the type that involves a modern-day American political divorce between two perhaps incompatible visions. New England, for example, could go its own way, as it actually once threatened to — the result would be both politically and geographically plausible. The West Coast states could also find their own path or link up with British Columbia or Mexico.

And, of course, 11 of the Southern states already seceded once.

But as it happens, people are not that into secession nowadays. The results of this poll evince a much less divided nation than you might expect. In spite of some of the headlines, and perhaps in spite of my own expectations, people in every political category and age group shrug or even wince at the idea of secession. There are marginal differences between groups, but it cannot be viewed as a popular idea with anyone.

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