TA B L E
6.2The Impact of Question Wording on Opinions
How questions are worded can affect survey results. These surveys all ask about immigration reform but differ in the number of
requirements that noncitizens would have to satisfy. In light of how the responses to survey questions are shaped by the precise
wording of these questions, what sort of question would you ask if your goal was to show that Americans favored immigration
reform? What if you wanted to show high levels of opposition?% Support or Favor Question Pollster Poll Date81
Here are some questions about how the U.S. government should treat illegal
immigrants who have been in the country for a number of years, hold a job, speak
English and are willing to pay any back taxes they owe. Would you favor or oppose
a bill that allowed immigrants to stay in this country rather than being deported and
eventually allow them to apply for U.S. citizenship?CNN/ORC 2/2/2014
78
Do you favor or oppose allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the country and
eventually qualify for U.S. citizenship, as long as they meet certain requirements like
paying back taxes, learning English, and passing a background check?Fox News 4/22/201377
Would you favor or oppose providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants in the
United States if they met certain requirements including a waiting period, paying
fines and back taxes, passing criminal background checks, and learning English?CBS News 10/21/201351
The U.S. Senate is considering an immigration bill that would attempt to increase
border security and create a path to citizenship for many immigrants who are in
this country without permission from the U.S. government. Based on what you have
read or heard about this bill, do you favor or oppose it?CNN/ORC 6/13/2013
46
As you may know, the U.S. Senate passed an immigration law that includes a path
to citizenship for undocumented immigrants now living in the United States
and stricter border control at a cost of $46 billion. Do you support or oppose this
proposal?Post/ABC 7/21/201346
Congress is debating changing immigration laws. Do you support or oppose a revision
of immigration policies that would provide a path to citizenship for 11 million
undocumented immigrants in the United States?Bloomberg 6/3/2013Source: Scott Clemet, “Immigration Reform Is Super Popular. Here’s Why Congress Isn’t Listening,” Washington Post, July 2, 2014 (accessed 11/2/15).216especially high because these elections featured the first African-American major
party nominee, Barack Obama. As a result of this error, polls taken close to the
election predicted Clinton victories in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania—
states that were actually won by Trump.
To keep costs down, many organizations use Internet polling, in which volunteer
respondents log on to a website to participate in a survey, or robo-polls, in which a
computer program phones people and interviews them. Although these techniques
are less expensive, there are often doubts about the quality of the samples they
produce. (Push polls, in which a campaign uses biased survey questions as a way of
driving support away from an opponent, are not legitimate polls because they are not
designed to measure opinion—they are designed to shape it and are a form of negative
campaigning; see Chapter 9.)
The wording of questions can also influence survey results. Table 6.2 shows different
questions asked to measure opinions about providing citizenship to undocumented
immigrants. As you can see, support depends on the requirements that people would
need to fulfill in order to become citizens. As a result, support for immigration reform
is much higher in the top three polls than in the bottom three. These issues shouldn’tChapter 6 | Public OpinionFull_07_APT_64431_ch06_198-231.indd 216 16/11/18 1:38 PM