ARE OPINION POLLS ACCURATE?
by John Leo, from the U.S. News & World Report This is a meditation on opinion polls, and how some polls are more honest and more valuable than others. A week ago, as I sat down for a panel discussion on the “Sensation” exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, someone handed me a fresh poll commissioned by our host, the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center. The pollsters said it showed that the public was overwhelmingly on the side of the museum — 85 percent believed Americans have the right to judge controversial exhibits for themselves, and 59 percent said government should not be able to ban such exhibits at museums receiving public funds. Later, after I took a long look at the survey, the results seemed much more ambiguous. Early questions showed that majorities, ranging from 54 percent to 64 percent, disagreed with the statement that “people should be allowed to display in a public place art that has content that might be offensive” to minorities, women, religious groups, or simp
