Political surveys

[watervole]

I've just filled in a highly loaded, politically biased survey from one of our local political parties (the one I normally vote for, so this isn't a gripe at the opposition).

Many questions I simply refused to answer. eg. Do I feel that Council Tax is a fair system? (all systems of taxation are considered unfair by those who pay more under that system than the alternatives. If we want to pay less tax, then we have to demand fewer services)

Do I feel more bobbies on the beat is a better use of money than an identity card scheme? (Neither. If you really want to reduce offending rates, then there are schemes for working with prisoners to help them develop social and educational skills that are more cost-effective - but less popular politically - than either of the alternatives offered in the question)

At least they left lots of space for comments.

Comments

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

We did a survey last year, and tried to make it more open-ended by having a lot of multiple choice, eg which of the following is important to you (housing, childcare, transport etc etc), which do you think is well provided locally, which are you dissatisfied with. Trouble was that made it quite long, and punters aren't very interested in filling in long forms, so you don't get enough data to draw any clear conclusions.