Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Can someone create a poll that might mean something?

Why is it so difficult to write a proper poll? I am going to pick on ESPN, but I see this all over the place. Right now on ESPN.com, the poll question on the main page is "Will you watch the Belmont Stakes if Rachel Alexandra does not race?" There are then two choices - Yes and No.

The point of the poll is to try to gage what the impact of Rachel Alexandra's absence might have on viewership of the race - so just having two answers, yes and no, leaves out one (possibly large) category - those people like myself who couldn't care less about horse racing, and are not going to watch whether Rachel Alexandra or any other horse races.

This isn't asking too much, to just have what ESPN has is simply being lazy. This is a question that has three rather obvious choices choices - Yes, I will watch even if the horse does not race; No, I will not race if the horse does not race; and I will not watch either way. Nice, simple poll, that will yield some sort of meaningful result.

Isn't that the goal? A. Yes. B. No. C. Don't I have something better to do than to nitpick meaningless poll questions.

Or something that is slightly more important than a horse race, on CNN.com at the moment, the poll question is "Do you agree with President Obama's selection of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be the next U.S. Supreme Court justice?" The poll has two possible choices - yes and no. The poll forces people to make a decision, instead of adding a third option, "Not sure," or "Haven't had a chance to make up my mind," or "Prior to this morning, I had never heard of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, so give me some freaking time to form an actual opinion if you really want an informed result."

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