polling and public opinion
...population without phones, such as younger adults and poorer segments of the population, especially those who may live in cities or areas with rampant crime. Also, since the sample is national, those living further away from the D.C. area may not feel as affected. They also allude to the possible error in their results: “question wording and practical difficulties can introduce error or bias in the findings of public opinion polls. They make it clear that they are not trying to mislead the public. The poll is represented in bar/line graph format. Gallup discovered that the country is still divided, as they were a year ago, over whether or not the laws concerning the sale of firearms should be stricter. They also had no change in percentage of those purchasing guns for their own security. The first poll is a bar graph that states that 53% surveyed favored stricter gun laws in Oct. ’01, with that only dropping to 51% this October. 36% says the law should remain the same, while 10% said the laws should be less strict. The next question states “Do you think there should or should not be a law that would ban the possession of handguns, except by the police and other authorized persons?” Roughly the same numbers, with 64% in favor in Feb. ’99 and 65% Oct. ’02. The next question is fairly straightforward: do you have a gun in your home? 59% said no in Oct. 01, compared with 58% in Oct. of this year. 40% said ‘yes’ in Oct. ’01, compared with 41% this year. The poll paints a picture of basically the same attitudes on gun laws as had been a year ago. However, they use different starting points for their polls. For example, the ‘stricter gun laws’ question includes October 2000 and 2001. The ‘possession banning’ includes ‘Feb. 99, April ’99, Aug. 00, and Oct. ’02. They include two months in 1999, one in 2001, and then it jumps to 2002, which makes the continuity of the poll’s appearance questionable. They then switch focus to the August ’00 and Oct. ’02 polls, pointing out that roughly the same number of citizens owned a gun, despite rumors of increased gun sales subsequent to the Sept. 11 attacks. It is then a poll with a double objective: to measure attitudes on gun laws since the sniper shootings, and concerning gun ownership since the terrorist attacks. Although the numbers to the poll are surely accurate, and the sample is valid, I think there are several other factors that make it an unreliable poll. For example, in the, “do you favor stricter gun laws?” section, the question itself is pretty ambiguous. Stricter gun laws for whom, ex-criminals, or for ordinary law-abiding citizens? This ambiguity may have influenced the numbers, because people may be more likely to take guns out of other peoples’ hands, but perhaps not their own. Also, the nature of the telephone method of polling excludes those without phones, those that may live in high-crime areas, or of a certain age group. Also, the lack of an “I do...