On Sat, 15 Jul 2000, Doug Henwood wrote:
> >Don't Republicans own stocks? Don't Republicans work for a living?
>
> The wording of the question, evoking Ronald Reagan, must stick in
> their craw.
The more you elaborate, the more that seems true -- the respondents hear that key phrase and they know immediately that this a political referendum, not a value free query. And they respond accordingly, not to the specific request for facts as much as to the underlying question: have Clinton & Gore given us a good economy, yes or no?
You hear a lot about pollsters duping people with leading questions. This seems a good example of lazy pollsters allowing people to outwit them by leaving in flag words.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com