MEASURING PUBLIC OPINION| 137government policy to allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly (that is, disclose
their sexual orientation) in the U.S. military. As you can see, respondents’ sup-
port for this change depended on whether a question (1) mentioned serving openly
versus keeping one’s sexual orientation private, (2) described the policy change in
terms of repealing a law, or (3) tied the repeal to action by the then-Democratic
Congress. Depending on how the question is worded, support for repeal can be
almost cut in half, from 83 percent to 47 percent.UNRELIABLE RESPONSES
People are sometimes reluctant to reveal their opinions. Rather than speak-
ing truthfully, they often give socially acceptable answers or the ones that they
think the interviewers want to hear. In the case of voter turnout in elections, up
to one-fourth of respondents who say they voted when surveyed actually did not
vote at all.^44 Political scientists refer to this behavior as the social desirability
bias, meaning that people are less willing to admit actions or express opinions
(such as racial prejudice) that they think their neighbors or society at large will
disapprove of.^45 Pollsters use various techniques to address this problem, such as
framing a question in terms of the entire country rather than the respondent’s
own beliefs.
Opinion researchers also have to contend with the opinion-formation pro-
cess discussed earlier. Since many people develop their opinions on the basis of
considerations that come to mind at the moment they are asked, their answer may
change a day, a week, or a month later. This problem often arises in polls taken
early in a presidential campaign; results vary from week to week not necessarilyQUESTION WORDING AND OPINIONS ABOUT GAYS IN THE MILITARY
TABLE »^ 5.1
POLL QUESTION RESPONSES
ABC News/Wash. Post Poll,
Dec. 9-12, 2010“Do you think gays and lesbians who do NOT publicly
disclose their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve
in the military or not?”Allowed: 83%
Not allowed: 14%
Unsure: 4%
“Do you think gays and lesbians who DO publicly disclose
their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the
military or not?”Allowed: 77%
Not allowed: 21%
Unsure: 4%Quinnipiac University Poll,
Nov. 8-15, 2010
“Federal law currently prohibits openly gay men and women
from serving in the military. Do you think this law should be
repealed or not?”Should be: 58%
Should not be: 34%
Unsure: 8%McClatchy-Marist Poll,
Nov. 15-18, 2010
“Do you think the current Democratic Congress should
repeal the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy and allow gay men
and women to serve openly in the military or do you think
they should not repeal it so they continue to serve but not
openly?”Should repeal: 47%
Should not repeal: 48%
Unsure: 5%For additional details on these polls, see http://www.pollingreport.com/civil.htm (accessed 9/15/12).