American Polling Essay, Research Paper

“Choice Words: If You Can’t Understand Our Poll Questions, Then How Can We Understand Your Answers?”

Core Issue

Richard Morin writes about a problem plaguing polls across the nation. Morin states that many Americans polled do not understand the poll questions, yet they seem to always have an opinion on most questions poised.

Supporting Ideas

1) When President Clinton was confronted with questions about his past actions with Monica Lewinsky, he created ambiguity within the questions. He “misinterpreted” the meaning of sex, and what it entails.

2) To create the most illustrating answers, several questions are asked; the answers should come out the same. This will prove how strong the polls should be supported. If few questions are asked, the standard error (margin of error) is extremely higher than that of more lengthy surveys.

3) There is also a language problem. How questions are written creates different results. By describing an event within a question may create a biased answer. They may also not be probing at the right question they had intended.

Conclusions

Morin states that all the attention brought to polls over the past year have greatly increased the polling process. The polls indicated early on how the public felt about Clinton, “Clinton’s a good president but a man of ghastly character who can stay in the White House – but stay away from my house, don’t touch my daughter and don’t pet the dog” (Cannon, 290). The public stayed with the approval of the president’s policies and should have been paid more attention to. On the other hand, some feel that polls may never play an important role in American politics.