President Obama has come before the American people so many times now to promise transparency, declare his respect for civil rights and privacy, and vow to create a rational policy on government spying, that no one seems to be listening anymore.

Last Friday, Mr. Obama announced some important, but inadequate, measures to curb the out-of-control electronic surveillance revealed by Edward Snowden’s leaks. On Monday, the Pew Research Center released the results of a poll conducted before, on the day of, and after Mr. Obama’s speech.

To start, only about half of those surveyed said they had even heard of Mr. Obama’s promised changes