Another Gallup Poll with Questionable Results

Posted on May 24, 2012 at 9:33 am by Bob Cesca

The latest Gallup poll shows more Americans identify as “pro life” than “pro choice.”

Disappointing on the surface, and not just because of the superficial results. It’s disappointing because Gallup and other polling outfits continue to use generalized language that misconstrues what the American people are thinking.

Personally, I’m both “pro life” and “pro choice.” “Pro life” insofar as I’m into the idea that life is good. I’m also not “pro abortion” — I don’t particularly think abortion is awesome. However, I’m “pro choice” insofar as I believe abortion should be legal and accessible to women who choose to have the procedure.

So if Gallup called me, how would I respond to that top-line question? I would probably reject the premise.

Meanwhile, if you dig down into the rest of the poll, you’ll see this, as paraphrased by Adam Serwer:

So a large majority—77 percent—of Americans support abortion being legal in all or “certain circumstances,” and just 20 percent of Americans are actually “pro-life” in the sense that opponents of legalized abortion understand the term.

Exactly.

Now if we can get these polling companies to update the specificity of their language, we might see some different results. Maybe they can do the same thing with the misleading “liberal” versus “conservative” polls.

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  • Draxiar

    I think that with the way polls are conducted and their dubious phrasing of questions, the polls should be published with the EXACT wording of the questions.

    I know, I know…that could potentially remove the trickery of the poll results, how the results are reported and interpreted and so on.

    I can still hope though!

  • LearningToFly

    Pollsters should be more explicit ask the following question: Do you support the government restricting or making illegal a womans right to choose.

  • GrafZeppelin127

    “Pro-life” has always been a misleading term, regardless of which side you’re on. It’s easy to manipulate because the opposite of life is death, so if you’re not “pro-life” then you must be “pro-death.” The word “choice,” on the other hand, doesn’t have a direct antonym. So if you’re not “pro-choice,” then you’re … what, exactly? “Pro-no-choice?” The only answer is “anti-choice,” which doesn’t mean as much (and is not nearly as charged) as “pro-death” or even “anti-life.”

    The reality is that, by and large, conservatives are pro-life and anti-choice, while liberals (and, I think, most people overall) are pro-life and pro-choice, even though conservatives enjoy believing and portraying otherwise.

    • Brutlyhonest

      Exactly. Words mean stuff. The rwnj propaganda machine knows this and uses words very effectively to manipulate people and opinion. They have controlled the narrative for so long now that their terms for things, like pro-life, are used by nearly everyone without even thinking about it.

    • D_C_Wilson

      They should be called “pro-birth” because they’re all protecting the precious snowflakes until they exit the womb. Then, it’s get a job, you lazy welfare baby!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000098740588 Jeremy Grunloh

    “Should abortion be illegal?” That’s the question.

    • lb158

      Roe v. Wade….Have you not heard of it?

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000098740588 Jeremy Grunloh

        *rolls eyes* I love how the annonymity of the internet gives people an excuse to immediately act like a dick. You didn’t understand what you were respoonding to. To clarify: “should abortion be illegal?” is the question that SHOULD be asked in these polls. Not are you “pro life” or “pro choice.” Because a great many Americans don’t know what those terms actually mean. Being personally against abortion, but not thinking it should be banned for everyone else, does not make one “pro life”. But a GREAT many incorrectly believe it does.

        “Pro life” means ONE thing, and ONE thing ONLY: abortion should be agaisnt the law. Poll with “should abortion be against the law” and a clear majority will answer no, meaning a clear majority is IN FACT “pro choice” (as they have been for decades).

        Get it now?

        • pgeorge

          ‘”Pro life” means ONE thing, and ONE thing ONLY: abortion should be against the law.’

          I don’t agree at all. I’m all in favor of life. In fact, I don’t like healthy animals being euthanized or bombs being dropped on civilians. And I would like the planet’s environment to be as healthy and nurturing as possible for life itself. So I would say I am pro life.

          But I’m not entirely convinced that the life of a zygote should be given equal weight to the life of the woman whose health, welfare and entire future depends on her ability to make a decision about her own pregnancy. In other words, there is a lot of room for nuance in what you think “pro life” means.

          • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000098740588 Jeremy Grunloh

            *sigh*

            In the contet of abortion (which is what this blog post is about), NO, there is no fucking nuance. Wer’re not fucking talking about euthanasia or war. We’re talking about abortion. And “Pro life” as regards to abortion means “abortion should be illegal”. Period.

            People like you, whether you know it or not, are running interference for the forced-birth movement with this crap. “Pro-life” is their orwellian term (they invented it) and you’re being their useful idiot when you try to apply it (in what I’m sure you THINK is some ironic and profound way) to other issues of life and death.

          • pgeorge

            Thanks for all the eye-rolling and name-calling. Whatever argument you were making is considerably weakened by it. Apparently your logic is that a word or phrase can only be defined by those yelling the loudest – and can’t possibly be allowed the nuance to include anything else. I still think it is entirely possible to be pro-LIFE and pro-CHOICE without any “ironic” contradiction.

  • muselet

    So if Gallup called me, how would I respond to that top-line question?

    A couple of years ago, I got a call from Gallup and immediately said I wasn’t interested in participating. The woman sounded almost panicky, trying to get me to change my mind. I asked her to remove my number from Gallup’s call list and hung up. To my mind, that’s the proper response to any poll.

    If I were willing to torment some poor soul trapped in a cube farm somewhere, I’d ask him/her for the poll’s operational definition of the terms “pro-life” and “pro-choice.” It would be cruel—the people on the phone didn’t write the questions and they’re not allowed to go off-script—but if enough people did it, polling companies might become less lazy in phrasing their questions (they might even stop asking those stupid “label” questions altogether), if only to keep their employees from bursting into tears after every call.

    –alopecia

  • pgeorge

    I have hung up on pollsters that open by asking me if I am “pro life.” If I am speaking to a human being, I elaborate (though they still have nothing to stick that includes my answer). I think it is pro life to be anti war and pro family planning, but that makes their heads spin.