Don't let them fool you!

One of the banners that seems to appear constantly in this blog space, is a survey by Newsmax.com about Obama’s healthcare plan. This is a wonderful example of how surveys can be misleading, conducted in a way that guarantees, from the beginning, that the conclusion will reflect the original opinion of the survey holder. It is obvious that Newsmax.com does not like Obama nor his healthcare plan, and uses the survey to ‘prove’ their dislike. Let’s take two questions as examples: 

Do you believe the Democratic health plan should include 45 million uninsured, including illegal aliens? 

· Yes, should include 45 million. 

· No, should not. 

Do you believe Obama’s health care plan is too expensive? 

· Yes 

· No 

Note that the first question deliberately adds the illegal immigrants as an emotional deterrent. How many of these 45 millions without healthcare insurance are illegal immigrants? Is it a big enough population to justify stopping the plan? And what happens if I support everyone but the illegal immigrants to have healthcare insurance? Whatever your view is, you are given no choice. Either you support the healthcare insurance for illegal immigrant, or you do not support Obama’s plan. 

The second question is also misleading. Do you really expect the average American, who can barely run his or her own household budget, estimate if a national plan is too expensive? How informed can any answer like this be. 

So when you read the result of any survey keep an open mind. Often what the survey tells you, has nothing to do with reality, it’s only a smart way to express someone’s opinion as if it were the public’s. 

They are the masters of crafting and manipulating public opinion, and they don’t think of YOU when they do it. So never let them full you. Think for yourself.