Re: [Marxism] Re Being Polled

["Michael Hoover" <hooverm@xxxxxxxxxx>]

>>> obeynow20001@xxxxxxxxx 06/16/06 2:13 PM >>>
Back when I was in high school and again just out of
college, I worked for a polling company doing surveys,
in fact probably the same one that Louis cites.
Once I had to do a poll for some Repug asshole in
Louisiana, it was for a primary I think.
First, the poll had questions about the
characteristics of the person being polled; it was
structured so that if you answered African American on
one of the questions, you would be cut off shortly
thereafter.
Then, the poll used loaded and leading questions to
imply that the Repugs opponent was a liberal n***r
lover, etc.
Alex
******************************************************

generally-speaking, i'm a polling skeptic but above appears to be
discredited technique - among *scientific* pollsters (gallup director
frank newport considers what he does science - called *push polling*...

push polling involves asking a respondent a loaded question about a
politcal candidate designed to elicit the response sought by the
pollster and, simultaneously,  to shape the respondent's perception of
the candidate in question...

bias of push polling is one reason why folks have become increasingly
cynical about polling and increasingly unwilling to answer questions...

while one should always be aware of the limitations of polling, push
polling is one of several types of probem polls, others are:

advocacy polling: issue equivalent of push-polling, questions are
phrased ro produce a particular answer, poll designed to produce results
favorable to a certain point of view...

canvassing under the guise of a public opinion poll: known as cugging,
used as a way to build a mailing list, pollster ends intertview by
asking for a mailing address...

self-selected listener opinion poll (slop): people willing to pay phone
charges and with sufficient interest call 900 number to register their
position on an issue...

computerized response audience poll (my favorite acronym - crap):
walk-in audience registers its views on an issue or event by pressing
buttons on a hand-held computer meter, sometimes used to register
reactions to a political debate or advertisement, tends to be
misrepresented by the media as an indicator of what a *scientific*
sample of people thinks...   mh


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