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

[watervole.livejournal.com]

In the case of the survey you're talking about, it looks like the
approach is to ask (in effect) "Do you agree with our party policy on
this issue?", and to provide free space for you to elaborate if you want
to.

It was more 'don't you think the government's policy is rubbish' and quoting carefully selected statistics to influence your answer.

Having said that, the first half of the questionaire had a lot of sensible questions on what was important locally and had no bias of any kind.