Today I received an envelope labeled "REGISTERED DOCUMENTS ENCLOSED", "REGISTERED SURVEY NUMBER: …", and "RESPONSE REQUESTED WITH 72 HOURS". Wow! Important sounding! It was from the Democratic National Committee. I was tempted to put it where I put most other surveys. Looks like "liberals" aren't all that interested in "saving trees".
But, my curiosity got the better of me. Just how biased are the survey questions?
It is called "2010 PRESIDENTIAL SURVEY", it has my name and address at the top, and it has my "DNC MEMBERSHIP #". Gosh, when did I join the Democratic National Committee or the Democratic Party. I've contributed to candidates, but I haven't contributed money to a party since I was a Republican precinct finance chairman. My term ended in 1981 and I never went back. I guess they never read my Reader Weekly columns, "Party of One".
Also, the first page says "PLEASE COMPLETE AND RETURN BY: May 28, 2010. Hm! May 28 is more than 72 hours from today.
"SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS" include reviewing the questions, answering "to the best of your knowledge or ability", and using the proper ink color. Then, the true purpose:
4. Complete your DNC contribution form.
5. Return your completed survey, along with your contribution, in the envelope provided.
That was almost enough to trigger the second attempt to "save a tree". But my curiosity wanted to know if the questions were any less biased than in the survey I wrote about in "URGENT Poll on Obama Care" http://magree.blogspot.com/2010/03/urgent-poll-on-obama-care.html
The first section was on "PRESIDENT OBAMA'S PERFORMANCE". The questions seem straight-forward with a choice of Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor, and Undecided. But those answers are ambiguous. A Democrat might rate Obama poor on health insurance reform because Obama didn't do enough, and a Republican might rate Obama poor because Obama did anything at all. Of course, how many Republicans will return the form. They might "save a tree" and a stamp.
The "NATIONAL PRIORITIES" section asks the respondent to rate the relative importance of thirteen issues. Most seem innocuously worded, but one could see a bias in the selection of some.
The "DEMOCRATIC PARTY PRIORITIES" is partisan with items about raising funds and electing Democrats, but the real partisan item is "Combating Republicans' Obstructionist Tactics".
That item is a real problem, but maybe it could be minimized by promoting fewer thousand-page bills trying to do everything at once.
I'm tempted to return the form with the link to this blog entry, but I think I'll "save a tree" and a stamp.
