Re: [Fwd: Re: [Marxism] Bush’s approval rating at all-time low]
Carrol Cox quoted:
I don’t have before me the script of that 1986 episode of YES, PRIME MINISTER, in which Sir Humphrey Appleby (the civil servant) explains the function of polls to his colleagues. In about two minutes, Sir Humphrey responds to a party poll showing 64% of the British public favorable to military conscription with directions on how to put together another poll that would show 64% of them critical of the draft. The point of political polls is not to locate any more than elections are ways for government to reflect public opinion in any way. The important thing is not to do either but to appear to do them.
In that delicious YPM exchange, someone asks, “But surely there are honest polls?” to which Sir Humphrey replies with something like “Yes, but nobody pays much attention to them.”
Oh yeah, I always look to satirical TV shows for guidance.
What a nice bit of know-nothingism. Reputable pollsters are very aware of how sensitive results are to phrasing, the sequencing of questions, etc., and try to work around problems like those by testing alternative wordings, rotating questions, etc. The NYT article reporting on their latest poll says in the second paragraph:
In a sign that public opinion about the trade-offs between national security and individual rights is nuanced and remains highly unresolved, responses to questions about the administration’s eavesdropping program varied significantly depending on how the questions were worded, underlining the importance of the effort by the White House this week to define the issue on its terms.
In the poll http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/20060127_poll_results.pdf, they asked two versions of the question to test just this sort of thing:
SPLIT HALF - ASK EITHER 62 OR 63.
After 9/11, President Bush authorized government wiretaps on some phone calls in the U.S. without getting court warrants, saying this was necessary in order to reduce the threat of terrorism. Do you approve or disapprove of the President doing this?
Approve Disapprove DK/NA1/20-25/06 53 46 1
After 9/11, George W. Bush authorized government wiretaps on some phone calls in the U.S. without getting court warrants. Do you approve or disapprove of George W. Bush doing this?
Approve Disapprove DK/NA1/20-25/06 46 50 3
Here the wording gives you a swing of 11 points - from a +7 to a -4 net approve.
So what’s the message - a properly worded poll, of the sort no one pays attention to, would find the American masses in agreement with the so-called “Marxism” list?
Doug