Was poll on homosexual “marriage” legitimate?

Regarding the poll I posted last weekend which said that a majority of Americans now support homosexual “marriage,” Dale F. writes:

We can never believe what the “state-controlled media” (Rush’s excellent characterization) tell us about “American” attitudes. The media, because they are mostly liberals, will always say that Americans believe the same things that liberals believe—regardless of the fact that liberalism in this country is a distinctly minority view.

Even in the course of their own news article press release, they reveal their mendacity.

This latest ABC News/WaPo poll is based on a supposedly

“random national sample of 1,005 adults.”

(I have no faith whatsoever that the sample was in fact random, and their “methodology” section in the PDF linked from the press release says nothing about how the sample was selected.)

They then go on to claim that

“from a low of 32 percent in a 2004 survey of registered voters, support for gay marriage has grown to 53 percent today.”

Wait a minute. How can you compare a survey of registered voters in 2004 to a supposedly random survey of Americans today? You can’t—it’s apples and oranges. But as long as the comparison shows greater support for liberalism over time, all is well.

The purpose of “polling” by organizations such as ABC News and the Washington Post is not to determine what people really think about any particular topic, but to hearten liberals and to discourage conservatives.

I agree with your point about the “conservative” (I would say Republican) leadership’s abdication on DADT and DOMA. The intimidation and bullying deployed by the left on this topic is astonishing, and many people are folding. Still, most Americans believe as we do.

Thank you for all you do to inspire the good citizens of our country.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 24, 2011 09:13 AM | Send