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Media uncritically cite flawed USA Today/Gallup poll question on Iraq
A July 6-8 USA Today/Gallup poll asked: "Which comes closer to your view about U.S. policy toward the situation in Iraq? Congress should act now to develop a new policy on Iraq. OR, Congress should not develop a new policy on Iraq until September when General Petraeus reports on the progress of the U.S. troop surge in Iraq." According to the poll, 40 percent responded "act now," while 55 percent responded "wait until September," and 5 percent were "unsure." But while presenting respondents with a reason for waiting until September, the poll question offered no reason for acting now, a position that many Democrats and an increasing number of Republicans advocate. Indeed, CNN's John Roberts noted that the results of that question "would seem to go against everything that's going on in Congress right now." In addition, the question did not take note of a separate, preliminary report on the Iraqi government's progress that is scheduled to be delivered to Congress by July 15, which might have suggested another possible time frame for respondents.
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Posted by nerzog
Let's try this question: Do you favor acting now and pulling our troops out of the Iraqi Civil War meat grinder, or waiting until September while hundreds more young Americans are needlessly killed to spare George Bush the embarassment of his monumental foreign policy screw up?
Posted Wednesday July 11, 2007 6:45:50 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by nerzog
Here's a follow up question: George Bush's pride is worth _____dead American soldiers?
A. 500
B. 1000
C.10,000
D. Zip
Posted Wednesday July 11, 2007 6:50:07 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by conleytgwinn
Please note that 95% seem to favor developing a new policy for Iraq! the small dispute about when we start seems . . . small.
Yes, I know that such a reading defies the intent of both USA Today and MMFA, but still believe the numbers do add up that way.
Posted Wednesday July 11, 2007 7:57:09 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by oscar the grouch
ATTENTION MSM!!!!!! From now on, all questions, poll related or otherwise, must be cleared through MMFA before being posed to the public.
Posted Wednesday July 11, 2007 8:02:29 PM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by conleytgwinn in reply to oscar the grouch
Not the point, Oscar.
You must see that the question is such a box as to direct the results improperly. Poll questions take some thought, and most importantly, some clear understanding of what is a meaningful result. This poll question is defective (as are about 50% of the questions I answer on a variety of polls) as pointed out by MMFA.
Posted Thursday July 12, 2007 12:21:39 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by pete592 in reply to oscar the grouch
Isn't there something that needs to be scraped off the floor of your garbage can right about now?
Posted Thursday July 12, 2007 1:25:46 AM EDT / Flag this comment
Posted by Kyle_Broflovski in reply to oscar the grouch
Oscar -
Multiple choice opinion question:
Are you:
A) Blindly supportive of President Bush and all of his failed policies
B) A freedom-hating terrorist
C) Unsure whether you are a terrorist or a bible-thumping racist nutjob, but definitely one of those!
Posted Thursday July 12, 2007 4:42:41 PM EDT / Flag this comment