Friday, June 02, 2006
Survey, Smurvey
The Wichita Eagle is reporting results of a public opinion poll of 501 registered Kansas voters conducted Tuesday and Wednesday by Survey USA for The Wichita Eagle and KWCH 12 Eyewitness News.
The result of the survey is summed up in the headline: "Voters say yes to sex ed, no to evolution." According to the poll, while a big majority oppose the board's abstinence only opt-in policy, 72 percent of those polled say they favor candidates who support teaching alternative theories to evolution.
RSR doesn't think much of the survey.
We think the question -- Would you be more likely to support a candidate who supports teaching only the theory of evolution? Or a candidate who supports teaching alternative theories to evolution? -- doesn't fully capture what voters are thinking about the current school board and its right-wing majority.
We would have preferred a series of questions that probe the issue more deeply. We think voters have a more nuanced view than this particular question is capable of getting at.
Other polls have shown that a majority support teaching alternative theories, too. The problem is, none of them explain why creationist incumbents such as Linda Holloway were voted off the board in 2000 here in Kansas, and why all incumbent supporters if intelligent design were voted off the board in Dover this past November.
We would like to see the results of a poll on how voters feel about the Bob Corkins appointment.
The result of the survey is summed up in the headline: "Voters say yes to sex ed, no to evolution." According to the poll, while a big majority oppose the board's abstinence only opt-in policy, 72 percent of those polled say they favor candidates who support teaching alternative theories to evolution.
RSR doesn't think much of the survey.
We think the question -- Would you be more likely to support a candidate who supports teaching only the theory of evolution? Or a candidate who supports teaching alternative theories to evolution? -- doesn't fully capture what voters are thinking about the current school board and its right-wing majority.
We would have preferred a series of questions that probe the issue more deeply. We think voters have a more nuanced view than this particular question is capable of getting at.
Other polls have shown that a majority support teaching alternative theories, too. The problem is, none of them explain why creationist incumbents such as Linda Holloway were voted off the board in 2000 here in Kansas, and why all incumbent supporters if intelligent design were voted off the board in Dover this past November.
We would like to see the results of a poll on how voters feel about the Bob Corkins appointment.
