European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 20, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                James Kilpatrick August 1978 opinion poll findings easily manipulated the stars and stripes tobacco Road Page is professional pollsters will Lell Rau that in any Survey of Public two factors Are the first is the of Sample the second is the hording of us of the the question probably counts for Tor a Good textbook illustration of that consider the poll conducted last january by lbs news and the new York times on the conservative movement in Hie pollsters concluded that americans Are More conservative than they used to but some puzzling contradictions this swing to the right May not be As clearcut As it might there Are Many new right issues on which conservatives and liberals think the poll was much those of it on the conservative Side of the Fence took Comfort in an apparent swing to the on particular Liber Al took Comfort in figures indicating that even putative conservatives were in their one such Issue was National health insurance another was top editors of the North american newspaper Alliance at the times lbs news data in the longer they studied the questions that had been the More they became convinced the findings were so Nana commissioned the opinion research corporation of to undertake a second Survey in which the questions were subtly but  the re sults should be a lesson to everyone who uncritically accepts a Public opinion in the original time subs news this question was asked do you agree or disagree that the government ought to help people to get doctors and Hospital care at Low Cost a remarkable 81 percent of the respondents agreed with the it was still More remarkable hat even among the respondents who had identified themselves As 79 percent this question also was asked do you agree or disagree that the government in Washington ought to see to it that everybody who wants to work has a Job on that 71 percent of the respondents among those who styled them selves 70 percent sponsors of the time subs news poll reached a smug conclusion on the traditional issues of jobs and medical there is no longer any Large difference be tween liberals and Back in the a majority supported govern ment provision of jobs for the unemployed end Low Cost medical an even greater including a Malory to of the very fee that now consider what happened when a ams poll reworded the two in the Nana the words private enter prise were substituted for govern thus respondents were asked if they agreed or disagreed that private Enterprise ought to help the people to get jobs medical the findings knocked the original poll into a cocked hat answering the reworded question about private Enterprise in medical 71 per cent agreed with the among those who had identified themselves As lit 73 percent answering the re worded question about 70 percent among the who styled themselves As 72 percent in each the question subtly invited the in the first by Sug Gesting that the government ought to do a desirable the question invited an agreeable in the second in by suggesting that private enter prise ought to do the same desirable the question invited the same agree Able the moral is not to believe everything you see in the let me give you a unrelated example of How the game is a Long time ago i needled George Gallup by wondering aloud if his questions some times were deliberately but subtly slanted to elicit a favourable response from the lib eral Point of he denied this absolutely and assured me that his stall agonized Over the warding of but last month Gallup published a poll showing that w percent of the people favor ratification of the equal rights this was How he described the it was a proposal which would give women equal rights and equal a phonies question Sel Dom has been asked by a reputable but Gallup asked and he got a phony an William Buckley Liam Buckley ineptitude of Republican party May be Carters secret weapon he oni v Promise Carter has so the turn party designation thus gut is around in California by governor Brown is feat of he democratic incur the Only Promise Carter has a Republican contender for the presidency was heard recently to is to give amnesty to the formulation is but so is Campaign it really is a rather staggering and it is becoming a form of impolite Ness to remind the president of what he said he would do for us if he became presi so let us give him a Day off and concentrate instead on the mutinous thoughts being thought by so Many disloyal demo there is the problem of what goes now by the name of conservative the code name for it is proposition there Are very few instances in recent american political history in which the voters have expressed themselves so pm so the turn around in California by governor Brown is a most amusing  in u is As if senator Eugene Mccarthy were to stand up and claim credit for the Viet Nam or senator javits accuse the White House of being squish soft on is a prominent Liberal Democrat in Illinois was recently invited to Content for the seat now held by senator Charles he surveyed the political situation and con columns and comments eluded that the Only Way he could Hope to defeat Percy in Illinois would be by campaigning against him from the hed have found this a most awkward thing to Given tradition and his personal so he bowed the notion that president Carter will move to the right is gaining popularity but not the generality is of course Correct major politicians tend to the but to the right of Carter is the Republican does h Tuow that car Ter could preempt what is essentially a re publican position the answer be cause if be the left would almost certainly mount a third party candidate whose effect would ruin Carters cd Macei to a general who might the third party candidate nominate Here one gets into governor Brown and senator Kennedy arc the obvious but there is also the obvious of they accepted a third party designation thus guaranteeing de feat of the democratic the loyalists would almost certainly punish them by denying them the nomination in assuming the soviet Union Perotta us to hold an election in but democrats who do not dream of occupying the White House would be for instance senator Eugene he is slightly to be the nicest thing about which is Hist he really prefers whimsy to is his principal Dis Abili he is a Little and that int the favorite Quality of George the third party candidate would need to get fairly substantial backing from Organ ize labor in order effectively to chop off the democrats he would almost certainly get backing from what one might Call the academic and financing from hard lining friends of Israel who Wilt be an Gry with Carter for decking to offer the United states to Israel in Exchange for the Gaza Carter won narrowly in u7 As an apostle of the balanced a reduced a liable and full pm in 1wo the Dollar will probably be Worth m percent Ess Una u was when Carter was and unemployment May Well be it would not appear that he has much of a As a poll i the president would have to be Here what possibility u left the ineptitude of he Republican which May prove to be Carters secret t m of a lout nomm Imp m Man to lit or m Tun not m menu atm to Iun