PROPAGANDA AND THE POLLS
Gordon, Milton A.
Propaganda And The Polls By MILTON A. GORDON PUBLIC opinion polls are supposed to discover what people think. They are not supposed to be trying to mold public opinion; their popularity rests on...
...16% 100% It is difficult to see why the above table was not presented, or why the headline over the Gallup release could not, with equal justification, have been written: "MAJORITY OPPOSE PASSING CONSCRIPTION BILL NOW," or at least, why this important finding should not have been a qualifying part of either the headline or the lead sentence...
...But from our current polls and their presentation in our newspapers—you'd hardly know it...
...Thus the story actually boils down to the fact that 80 per cent of those polled are opposed to the current proposal before Congress—which contains plans for one year of compulsory, separate military training...
...fication, to convey the idea that the American public favors the current conscription proposals of one year of military service in camps or training centers...
...Shall it be for a year, or more, or less ? Shall it be military in -nature, or just body-building...
...For instance, while a typical headline (in Hartford, Conn., Courant, Feb...
...Most of the time the public opinion polls stick to their proper function...
...Otherwise the current mistakes and abuses will continue...
...The Des Moines, (Iowa), Sunday Register (Nov...
...The attitude of the American people on peacetime conscription is pictured, either explicitly or by omission, as a mandate to Congress to pass the proposals now before it...
...12, 1944) reported for Iowa that less than half its sample, 45 per cent, favored passing a peacetime conscription law now (41 per cent against and 14 per cent undecided) ; while a Minnesota poll, reported in the Anoka, Minn...
...And so on...
...And yet the returns in two independent state-wide polls bore out the Gallup organization's findings...
...Moreover the American journalist must be taught to present the results of these studies accurately and objectively...
...2 The polls have often tended, without proper justi...
...7% 69% We may, now, on our own, add up the total figures as follows: Favor passing peacetime conscription bill 37% Oppose passing peacetime conscription bill 47 % Undecided...
...ESSENTIALLY, the basic faults lie not in the possibilities of the method, but in the particular technique used...
...Nevertheless, it is difficult not to conclude that until some such type of approach is used by the poll expert, his results must have a superficial quality about them that do not speak too well for this technique as a tool of democracy...
...The intended presumption, then, is clear: Congress should pass the bill now before it...
...No, and perhaps the public opinion researcher will answer that it is not his function to do so...
...say nothing about what Congress should do about the present bill...
...The majority of the American people are opposed to th« adoption of peacetime military conscription now...
...POST-WAR CONSCRIPTION STRONGLY FAVORED," reads the headline...
...3, 1945), gave only 44 per cent in favor of deciding the question now, 49 per cent against deciding now, and 7 per cent undecided...
...is like quizzing a church conference group on whether they are against sin...
...12, 1945), reporting an Insurance Co...
...Longer interviews with "open-ended" questions, discussion type of answers, and questions listing numerous alternatives are the kind of tools needed, and these have long been used with considerable success in local opinion research "studies" as opposed to the "polls" with which the American lay public is more familiar...
...However, nearly one-fifth, 19 per cent, of those favoring a system of universal military training feel that it should be given in a separate program, entirely apart from the school system, and without being 'cluttered up' by any supplementary academic or vocational studies or social aims...
...As a matter of fact, of the 3 major national polls, the Gallup agency was the only one which even included in its schedule the question of whether a peacetime conscription bill should be passed now...
...As regards peacetime military conscription, the following charges can be clearly sustained: 1 The polls have tended, without justification, to give ? the impression that the American people are in favor of passing now one of the peacetime conscription bills before Congress...
...Down deep in the release, however, is the statement...
...Peacetime conscription is such a question...
...Asking most Americans a^question like "Are you in favor of postwar military training...
...But once in a while some issue comes along where the questions put to the "sampled" portion of the public are so framed that one begins to wonder whether they are as objective as the poll-takers claim...
...Buried deep in the release is a paragraph which begins discreetly: "There is some difference of opinion among people favoring such a program as to when a law providing for it should be passed...
...A recent Gallup release on conscription (Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, May 2, 1945) continues this one-sided emphasis...
...But the gravity of the issues demands their adoption...
...As a matter of fact, the pollers did ask such a question...
...Have the questions asked about that been so "loaded" as to give a deceptive result...
...3 Finally, perhaps a fundamentally even more seri...
...their popularity rests on the assumption that what they do—and all they do—is to record it...
...This is shown when these people are asked: 'Do you think a military training law should be passed now, or should this wait until after the war?' "The replies: Favor passing law now ....................................37% Favor waiting until after war ........................25% Undecided...
...25, 1945) reads "69 PCT FAVOR TRAINING BILL," and the lead sentence reads, "A large majority of the American people—virtually 7 out of every 10—continue in favor of a postwar military training program for the nation's youth...
...It is true that their use for nationwide studies would involve much more effort and expense than is now the case...
...Among those who favor postwar compulsory military training, opinion on whether a law to put it into effect should be passed now or after the war ends is fairly evenly divided...
...Has this possibility been adequately presented to the American people...
...poll of policy holders, reads: "MILITARY TRAINING FAVORED," and the lead paragraph emphasizes this point, a paragraph further down in the story reads: "A majority of persons favoring such a program feel that the military training should be administered throughout the four years of high school along ROTC lines, and nearly one-half of those opposed to the idea of national compulsory military training in peacetime would have no objection to such training if it were given as a part of the regular public high school educational system, the survey found...
...Neither the Fortune poll, nor the National Opinion Research Center survey in its conscription research during the past year asked for an expression of opinion on this crucial issue...
...For instance, some military experts have advocated a highly trained and skilled, not too large, volunteer military force as the best military guarantee of security in the postwar world, A number of service men themselves have suggested a postwar voluntary army which would be made an attractive place for careers, by the maintenance of high pay levels, the provision of good chances for advancement and specialized training in valuable skills, and by other such inducements...
...The important points to determine are under what conditions Americans want peacetime training...
...IT is clear then that the actual wording of the questions in these polls must be closely watched...
...Let ue see...
...Shall it be compulsory or voluntary...
...And then follows a table showing that, in the latest poll, only 33 per cent of the American people favored passing a peacetime conscription bill now...
...Thus, the headline over a Gallup release in one paper (Youngstown, Ohio, Vindicator, Feb...
...ous criticism of the polls on peacetime conscription sentiment is that the questions are phrased so that they do not in the least report opinion which has had an opportunity to consider not only the alternatives which might easily bring themselves to the mind of the particular respondent, but also the intelligent possible substitute proposals which an informed and conscientious government might present...
...Shall it be apart from, or integrated with, school life...
...These are the crucial questions which the pollers are either ignoring or burying deep in their releases...
...Actually, however, the answers to the question which was asked ("After this war is over, do you think every able-bodied young man should be required to take military or naval training for one year...
...Actually, however, the voting public may have had in mind any one of a number of things, such as ROTC training in schools, CCC work, intensive training of volunteers, and other alternative proposals...
...Nor is the Gallup organization singled out for special criticism...
...AVERY real and admittedly important issue in the whole matter is whether the question of peacetime conscription should be decided now or after the war when the soldiers will have returned and when emotions will be calmer...
...Herald, (Jan...
Vol. 9 • August 1945 • No. 33
