A few weeks ago, former Gallup Poll senior editor David Moore appeared on On The Media to talk about how “polls inaccurately portray a consensus on issues the public often knows little or nothing about.”
When asking respondents to choose between two options, pollsters force people to make a snap judgment on subjects they may have never before considered, and then present the findings as if these on-the-fly assessments are actually deeply held beliefs, Moore explained.
So with that in mind, here’s a hearty thumbs up for the recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll which asked Americans for their opinion on the bailout plan.
Here are the results:
33 percent disapprove of the plan.
31 percent approve of it
28 percent have no opinion
Hurray for ambiguity. Hurray for shades of gray.
Katia Bachko is on staff at The New Yorker.
