Faithful commenter who always disagrees with me really got her dander up over the results of the Gallup poll when I posted it. She stresses that people do not understand what pro life means. I think this column by Jill is interesting especially as the pro abortion crowd used words to try to influence the end result as saying pro life people are "anti" abortion and the pro abortion crowd want to be referred to as abortion rights advocates.....it reminds me of when you don't' like the answer...change the question.
May 17, 2010
There's not much else to call the following post by Megan
Carpentier at Jezebel than stupid.
Trying to explain why a new Gallup poll shows the pro-life trend in America is the "new normal," Carpentier suggests the uptick is only due to Gallup suddenly referring to us anti-abortionists by the more friendly term, "pro-life":
The problem is, of course, Gallup has been using the same phraseology since it began asking the question in 1995, as it stated last year when the phenomenon 1st emerged: "This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995."
Anyone with a cursory knowledge of polling would understand that to change a question asked over a long haul would corrupt its findings.
Furthermore, to get the most honest answers, Gallup smartly determined at the onset to call each of our groups by our preferred nomenclature.
Finally, how does Carpentier account for the big drop in abortion support after 1995, then the slow pro-abortion recovery beginning in 2001, before another big drop in 2009? Is she suggesting Gallup changes and unchanges the poll question verbiage every 1 to 8 years?
Trying to explain why a new Gallup poll shows the pro-life trend in America is the "new normal," Carpentier suggests the uptick is only due to Gallup suddenly referring to us anti-abortionists by the more friendly term, "pro-life":
The problem is, of course, Gallup has been using the same phraseology since it began asking the question in 1995, as it stated last year when the phenomenon 1st emerged: "This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995."
Anyone with a cursory knowledge of polling would understand that to change a question asked over a long haul would corrupt its findings.
Furthermore, to get the most honest answers, Gallup smartly determined at the onset to call each of our groups by our preferred nomenclature.
Finally, how does Carpentier account for the big drop in abortion support after 1995, then the slow pro-abortion recovery beginning in 2001, before another big drop in 2009? Is she suggesting Gallup changes and unchanges the poll question verbiage every 1 to 8 years?
1 comment:
Again Susie, it's not the results that have my "dander up". It's the misuse of the results.
Your/Stanek's Title "Why Americans are more pro-life" is a perfect example of this misuse. What does it mean to be Pro Life? It means that you want all abortion to be illegal. Do the majority of American's want all abortion to be ileegal. No way! Last year Gallup reported that roughly 25% wanted all abortion to be illegal. At the same time, they reported that the slight majority CALLED THEMESLVES Pro Life.
Got it? The majority may call themselves Pro Life, but that doesn't mean they ARE Pro Life. And Jill Stanek and her ilk are the first to jump up and cry foul if someone claimed that they are Pro Life but thought that abortion was okay some of the time or that even though they themselve might not have an abortion they thought others should be free to choose.
I don't know why that's so difficult for you to comprehend Susie.
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