Delicious image: "giving rice to demagogic leaders"
I'd make a distinction between public opinion when called upon to make a collective decision of consequence and more off-the-cuff queries about whatever is on the interviewer's mind.
That's a good point, and one of the more common methodological critiques of polling. Luckily, "non-attitudes" on superlufous questions don't plague Americans as much as people once thought, but the issue of not asking the _right_ questions to properly gauge an a policy area is an intractable problem. One of those things where the responsibility is pinned on the pollsters themselves.
Delicious image: "giving rice to demagogic leaders"
I'd make a distinction between public opinion when called upon to make a collective decision of consequence and more off-the-cuff queries about whatever is on the interviewer's mind.
Douglas,
That's a good point, and one of the more common methodological critiques of polling. Luckily, "non-attitudes" on superlufous questions don't plague Americans as much as people once thought, but the issue of not asking the _right_ questions to properly gauge an a policy area is an intractable problem. One of those things where the responsibility is pinned on the pollsters themselves.
Elliott