Polls will likely decline in importance as technology broadens its reach because average people really aren’t as stupid as media suppose. Media tend to seize simple bullet points from a poll rather than take the time to actually look at the questions and crosstabs.
A classic, even egregious, example of sloppy journalism exists in coverage given a recent Time Magazine survey taken October 9-10. The survey is also an example of sloppy polling.
Traditional media has long allied with liberal ideology and political groups, one reason the Occupy Wall Street protesters have received fawning coverage and tea partiers drew character assassinations.
Here’s a sampler of headers media used to tout the poll:
- Why Occupy Wall Street is more popular than the Tea Party… (The Week)
- Poll: Americans like Occupy Wall Street a whole lot more than the tea party (alternet)
- Americans favor Occupy Wall Street far more than Tea Party (The Plum Line at Washington Post; by Greg Sargent)
The Time survey offers information worth discussing, but you’d never know it from the coverage.
For starters, when the pollsters asked for an opinion of the tea party, here’s how the question was phrased:
“On another issue, is your opinion of the tea party movement very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, very unfavorable, or don’t you know enough about the tea party to have an opinion?"
Respondents who said ‘very favorable’ totaled 8 percent; somewhat favorable totaled 19 percent. Furthermore, 39 percent said they didn’t know enough.
You’d think the same approach would be used to ask about the Occupy Wall Street crowd, right?
Instead, here’s how the pollster phrased the question about the OWS group:
“In the past few days, a group of protesters has been gathering on Wall Street in New York City and some other cities to protest policies which they say favor the rich, the government’s bank bailout, and the influence of money in our political system. Is your opinion of these protests very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, very unfavorable, or don’t you know enough…?”
Respondents who said ‘very favorable’ totaled 25 percent and ‘somewhat favorable’ totaled 29 percent.
Stop and think about it for a minute. The same issues the pollster ascribed to the OWS group could be claimed by the tea party.
The difference is in the subjectivity introduced by the way the question was set up. Wouldn’t you think the pollster would describe the tea party’s anti-bailout/low tax/government reform platform for the 39 percent who said they didn’t know enough?
Those headers should say 'Respondents spoonfed gravy about OWS, like what they heard.'
That’s not the only problem with the way the poll results have been presented to the public. If you’re interested in what the respondents really said and more importantly, who those respondents actually support, read the survey questions at Time.
Next time you hear someone talk about how popular the OWS protesters are compared to the tea party, ignore it. You’re better off reading a cereal box for information about politics than most traditional media and any number of errant bloggers as well.
As for polls, take them with a grain of salt because most of them are worth less than that.
Comments