Polling and the Public: What Every Citizen Should Know by Herbert Asher

Author:Herbert Asher [Asher, Herbert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Political Science, Sociology, Politics, Research, General
ISBN: 9780872893405
Google: 9uPtAAAAMAAJ
Goodreads: 841768
Publisher: CQ Press
Published: 1995-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Q. Which of these statements comes closest to your opinion? Abortion is the same thing as murdering a child, or abortion is not murder because a fetus isn’t really a person.

Murder 55%

Not murder 35

Don’t know, not ascertained 10

Q. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Abortion sometimes is the best course in a bad situation.

Agree 66%

Disagree 26

Don’t know, not ascertained 8

A journalist could write markedly different stories based on this survey, depending on which items are emphasized and how particular items are interpreted. By focusing only on the first item, a reporter could write a pro-choice story that points out that 40 percent of Americans favor the current abortion law, another 40 percent favor legalized abortion in limited circumstances, and only 16 percent oppose abortion outright. Another reporter could write an antiabortion story based on the first item by stressing that 56 percent of the sample (40 percent plus 16 percent) favor limiting somewhat the current availability of abortion. Likewise, the second item could be used to document an antiabortion story that emphasizes that a majority of Americans think abortion is murder. But a story based only on the third item would suggest that a strong majority of Americans think abortion is sometimes the best course of action. The article that Clymer (1986b) wrote reflects the complex and even contradictory nature of popular attitudes on abortion. Imagine the advocacy piece he could have written if he had adopted a blatantly pro-choice or antiabortion perspective.

Now consider the very divergent news stories that could be written based on the following questions asked of national sample of adult Americans in a Newsweek poll conducted February 17–18, 2010, by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. The first two questions address health care reform overall and focus on the major political actors dealing with the issue. The next eight items focus on specific proposals that fall under the general rubric of health care reform. And the last item ascertains Americans’ opinions of health care reform after being told that all of the specific proposals were included in the Obama plan.

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