Interview with Hardt; My two cents on P.A.

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Sun Feb 3 10:43:02 PST 2002


Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>
> This is from an article by Rick Perlstein in the current New York Observer:
>
> >The surveys show Americans now slightly more concerned with the
> >economy than with terrorism; and that, perhaps, is why a Fox News
> >poll reported that "if the election were held today," only 49
> >percent of Americans would vote for Bush-despite his wartime
> >approval ratings upwards of 80 percent.

I've just been reading Richard Lewontin's article, "Sex, Lies and Social Science," and I think his critique there of surveys of sexual behavior apply also to all attempts to survey opinion on any question on which complex reactions are possible. "Would you vote for X?" can (more or less) be legitimately answered with a yes or no. "Do you support the (patriotic) war?" is as little apt to be answered accurately as "What do you think about your wife masturbating?"

Carrol



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