The possible answers also affect responses. On June 27, 2006, two different
newspapers reported the results of two different polls about the U.S. occupation
of Iraq:
■USA Today’s headline read: “Most in Poll Want Plan for Pullout from Iraq.”
This story reported a USA Today/Gallup poll in which 50 percent of the res-
pondents say they want all U.S. troops home from Iraq within 12 months, and
57 percent say that Congress should pass a resolution outlining plans for a troop
withdrawal (Page, 2006).
■That same day, the Washington Post’s report of their poll (with ABC News) read
“Nation Is Divided on Drawdown of Troops”; in this story, 51 percent of the
respondents say that the Bush administration should not set a deadline for
withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq (Balz and Morin, 2006).Why the difference? It could be the way in which the questions were posed. The
USA Today/Gallup pollsters asked respondents to pick a plan for U.S. troops: “With-
draw immediately,” “withdraw in 12 months’ time,” “withdraw, take as many years
as needed,” or “send more troops.” The Washington Post/ABC pollsters, on the other
hand, asked more open-ended questions: “Some people say the Bush administration
TYPES OF SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH METHODS 121ZThe General Social Survey
has been surveying American
attitudes and behaviors since
1972.
Source:From the homepage of General Social Survey website, http://www.gss.norc.org http://www.gss.norc.org.
Reprinted by permission of General Social Survey.