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November 16, 2004
Pew Survey Reveals That Question Design Influences Voters Choice of "Values" or "Iraq" as Most Important Issue
A November 11th survey by the Pew Research Center reveals that moral values and Iraq reverse positions as the most important issue depending on how the question is asked. Here's what the report says:
Since the election, there has been considerable debate over the relative importance of moral values to voters. More than one-in-five (22%) of those questioned by the National Election Pool on behalf of the Associated Press and the major networks cited moral values as the most important issue in their vote, from a list of seven items on the exit poll questionnaire. In Pew's post-election survey, half of the respondents were presented with the same list of issues as on the exit poll and asked to choose which was most important while half were asked an open-ended version of the question.
Among those offered the seven-item list, a plurality of 27% selected moral values, followed by 22% who chose Iraq and 21% who selected the economy and jobs. Terrorism was chosen by 14%; education and health care were chosen by 4% each and taxes by 3% (see chart on pg. 2).
The responses were significantly different among those who were not offered a fixed list of choices. The war in Iraq was mentioned as the single most important issue by a similar number (25%), but the economy and jobs were mentioned by only 12%; and only 9% mentioned terrorism. Notably, just 9% used the terms "moral values," "morals," or "values." Specific social issues including abortion, gay marriage, and stem cell research were volunteered by 3%, while another 2% cited the candidates' morals.
It makes you wonder what the results would have looked like if the exit polls had included "lying to the American people" as one of the choices for most important issue
Posted by EDM Staff at 02:26 PM | link
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