I am proud to present
The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and
the ABC News / Washington Post poll with the first two "Distorty" awards.
These two outfits have been chosen to receive this award for their long-term, consistent distortion of public opinion on troop withdrawal in Iraq. By only and ever portraying troop withdrawal as an all-or-nothing proposition, these two outfits have successfully presented the public with a false choice to which the White House communications office would proudly give its stamp of approval.
Since the start of the war, the ABC News / Washington Post poll has asked the following question in its surveys at least eleven times:
"Do you think the United States should keep its military forces in Iraq until civil order is restored there, even if that means continued U.S. military casualties; or do you think the United States should withdraw its military forces from Iraq in order to avoid further U.S. military casualties, even if that means civil order is not restored there?"
Not to be outdone, since the start of the war Pew has asked
the following question in at least twenty-one of its surveys:
"Do you think the U.S. should keep military troops in Iraq until the situation has stabilized, or do you think the U.S. should bring its troops home as soon as possible?"
These are both outstanding displays of distortion. The idea that troops may be brought home gradually rather than all at once is entirely hidden from public view. Those who support gradual withdrawal are forced to choose between staying in Iraq indefinitely or bringing everyone home immediately. It is as though the questions were written by Bush's speechwriters.
Best of all, never once have a version of the Gallup or Harris questions on withdrawal appear in a survey from either Pew or ABC / WaPo. Here is the Gallup question:
"Which comes closest to your view about what the U.S. should now do about the number of U.S. troops in Iraq? The U.S. should send more troops to Iraq. The U.S. should keep the number of troops as it is now. The U.S. should withdraw some troops from Iraq. OR, The U.S. should withdraw all of its troops from Iraq."
And here is
the Harris question:
"Do you favor keeping a large number of U.S. troops in Iraq until there is a stable government there OR bringing most of our troops home in the next year?"
The real problem with the Gallup and Harris questions is that they allow those who support partial withdrawal, gradual withdrawal, or a timetable to actually have their opinions represented in the main withdrawal question. Rather than presenting the country with a false choice, these two firms are actually offering a real representation of public opinion on troop withdrawal from Iraq. Accurate portrayals of public opinion may be all well and good in some circles, but it is the sort of thing that earns you immediate disqualification from the Distorty Awards.
As a final note, I would like to offer some encouragement to those polling firms that did not receive a Distorty. Don't worry: as long as you continue to ask Bush's question on troop withdrawal from Iraq, your time will come.
