On the Art of Polling

An article at CNN reminds me just how annoyed I can get over the use of polls to mislead or provide incomplete conclusions.

The article deals with Americans’ attitudes towards energy:

According to a Consumer Reports Auto Pulse Survey released Thursday, 77% of consumers said the root of high gas prices lies with the government’s failure to implement an effective energy policy. That compares with 75% of drivers who blamed oil companies, 70% who said foreign oil producers were at fault and 68% who thought the Middle East conflict was a leading cause for record fuel costs.[…]

90% of those surveyed support an increase in alternative energy development, and 81% want the U.S. government to allow more drilling on and off our nation’s shores. Americans also favored conservation measures, with 83% saying they supported tax incentives for alternate transportation.

The story seems innocuous enough, right?

However, there are a few additional questions I’d be hearing the polling results to:

• Would you support gas prices of $6 or $7/gallon if that was required to make the mass-marketing of alternative fuel and energy sources economically feasible?
   
• Would you accept a regulatory requirement to own only one car, to carpool or use mass transit, or to set thermostats at/above 78° F in the summer, and at/below 64° F in the winter, if experts deemed such measures necessary to extend the availability of our energy resources?
   
• Would you support new energy drilling (or a new refinery, or a new nuclear power plant) within 10 miles of your home, or 4 miles off your favorite beach, if it were required to maintain energy supplies near their current levels?

I suspect that responses to those questions would be somewhat different than the poll results summarized above.

I think it’s wonderful that more Americans have (finally) started thinking about their energy consumption and are toying around with conservation…and how the public debate is starting to consider the longer-term picture when it comes to energy.

However, so far, the main focus seems to have been largely abstract, or focused on the current pain in the pocketbook.  I hope that a few more folks start thinking about the practical concerns over the long-term.