Generally, when a new “public opinion survey” comes out, I am pretty cynical about it. Having had a lot of exposure to the mechanics behind such surveys, and having had a lot of opportunities over the years to talk extensively with public opinion research specialists, I can say that without any hesitation that what comes out of a survey depends greatly on what you put into a survey. Or put another way – if you ask a slanted question, you will get a slanted answer.
The latest survey out from the Public Policy Institute of California presents a great example of manipulating those being surveyed to skew the results in a particular direction. The issue is on global warming and AB 32 – but first let me walk you through the broader survey manipulation issue…
You can write a whole book (I’m sure someone has) on all of the ways to manipulate the outcome of public opinion surveys. But one way that these kinds of surveys can fall short is that do not sufficiently educate the person being questioned before asking the question – producing a meaningless response. A hypothetical example of this kind of situation would be my “Disneyland” example, where the following question is asked with no preface…
Q: Do you think that ticket prices at Disneyland should be lowered by 25%?
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