Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Most polling data reported by the media is crap because the poll questions ask abstract questions rather than drill down to specific facts about the views held by respondents. This is particularly true of the automated telephone polls based upon responses of "press 1 for yes" and "press 2 for no." For the life of me I can't understand why anyone pays for such crap, let alone why the media reports it. These polls are useless.
Occasionally a pollster will do a more substantive poll, getting past the abstract questions and down into the weeds of the actual views held by respondents. And that is when you will discover that Americans suffer from a serious case of cognitive dissonance: what respondents say they believe in the abstract, they actually don't believe in practice when asked about specific facts.
Such is the case with a new study available from the Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University on Americans' attitudes about the size and scope of government. As Steve Benen reports, "It may not surprise you to learn the public's demands and expectations aren't always consistent." The Washington Monthly:
[I]t's tempting to think Americans have become reflexively anti-government. And in the abstract, they are -- spending cuts and limited government continue to poll quite well. It's those subtle, contradictory nuances that matter.
[M]ost Americans who say they want more limited government also call Social Security and Medicare "very important." They want Washington to be involved in schools and to help reduce poverty. Nearly half want the government to maintain a role in regulating health care. [...]
Although Republicans, and many Democrats, have tried to demonize Washington, they must contend with the fact that most major government programs remain enormously popular, including some that politicians have singled out for stiff criticism.
When it comes to handing out letter grades, no one and nothing in Washington fares well, though the worst grade went to congressional Republicans -- you know, the ones poised to make huge gains in the midterm elections.
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the attitudes of the Republican base are still far from a majority. An active government involved in defense, health care and combating poverty enjoys broad support. They also believe it's better to have the government spend to boost the economy than to focus on the deficit.
Just as importantly, while a majority of Americans in 1994 wanted their congressional representatives to cut spending in their area, regardless of economic consequences, nearly six in 10 now want their lawmakers to "fight for additional government spending in their districts to spur job creation."
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So, to summarize, Americans want less government spending but "continue to see major areas of government spending as essential." They don't like government in their daily lives, but don't want government to retreat from their daily lives. They want spending cuts, but not to anything in particular, and certainly not to their local areas.
There's a reason our discourse isn't more constructive.
Advice to pollsters: actually spend some time speaking with respondents about what they think, feel and believe instead of asking them to reflexively respond to your predetermined responses. Nuance is everything.
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