"Push polling" is the name given to poll questions designed by their sponsors to produce the answer they want. Reason Magazine, a libertarian outlet that supports drug legalization, recently reported on a poll commissioned by the pro-offender group Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM). The magazine breathlessly reports:
A new poll finds that more than three-quarters of Americans favor abolishing mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenders, a big jump in support since the last time the question was asked. The survey, commissioned by Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) and conducted last week by Public Opinion Strategies, asked 800 registered voters, "Would you favor or oppose eliminating mandatory minimum prison sentences for nonviolent offenders so that judges have the ability to make sentencing decisions on a case‐by‐case basis?" Seventy-seven percent of the respondents thought that was a good idea, compared to 59 percent in 2008.
Oh, OK. How 'bout if we ask this instead:
"Would you favor or oppose eliminating mandatory minimum prison sentences for nonviolent offenders so that judges have the ability to make sentencing decisions on a case‐by‐case basis, knowing that (1) the recidivism rate for offenders is 77%, (2) drug trafficking routinely breeds violence, and (3) judges' 'discretion' will virtually always be used to give more lenient sentences to criminals?"
Think we might get a different answer if we told the truth about what's actually going on?
I expect we would also get a different answer if we described the offenses in question rather than using the innocuous term "non-violent."