Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Surveys, as silly as they get....


OK, I'm slightly picking a nit here, but just to make a point:

A recent CNN poll reports that "54% of Americans oppose" the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.

Trouble is, the poll result is just about the opposite, apparently showing a majority supporting it.

The ACA expands health care coverage and will require almost all Americans to pay for health insurance, you know. Or maybe you don't.

The fourth paragraph of the story gives this detail: CNN's pollsters say 35% oppose the health care program "because it's too liberal," and 16% oppose it "because it's not liberal enough."

The poll says 43% of Americans support ACA. But see, the 16% who reportedly think "it's not liberal enough" obviously support the whole concept of the law because they want its impact to be wider and more effective. 

Combine those two groups and the poll result is that 59% of Americans like the current law or want it to have more impact.

Shame on CNN and its polling organization, ORC International.


And let's not even get into squabbling about why CNN would ask Americans if the health care law is "too liberal" or "not liberal enough." What does that mean? How do you define the "liberal" aspects of health care? 
How does the other guy define them?

And anyway, CNN didn't report how many of its poll participants could give any meaningful confirmation that they understand the details of the ACA.

Most Americans couldn't save their lives by describing the basic elements and policies of the law.

But a majority like it. CNN says so, even if CNN doesn't say so.

Reminder: no polling organization in America is capable of reaching a true random sample of persons for any survey, and all polling organizations "massage" their data to "improve" the results, so all poll results should be viewed as rough guesses about the truth.


No comments:

Post a Comment