Vague Poll Questions as Veiled Political Maneuvering
"Do you think a woman can be as effective a President as a man?"
That was the question posed on facebook's politics application (which appears to be somehow connected to ABC News, but I haven't explored that connection yet). You'll need a facebook account to see the question (current results: 78% Yes; 19% No; 3% Unsure).
I'm sure there is a more vague way to ask this question. But... I can't come up with one at the moment.
There are lots of subtle implications here. The real question expands to something like this:
"Do you think that [some] woman [could] be as effective a President as [some] man [at some point in time]?"
For someone to say no to this question, they would have to truly believe that no woman could ever be as effective as President as any run of the mill joe-blow man.
I can say, leaving all bias and political maneuvering aside, that anyone who truly believes that is a fool of utmost proportions.
But how is that question relevant right now? Isn't the real question right now whether Hillary Clinton can be as effective a President as a man? Or, more specifically, whether Hillary Clinton can be as effective a President as one of the dozen or so male contenders she is up against?
If you ask me, ABC News (or whoever actually posited the question) is intentionally baiting people. By setting the bar so low, they're ensuring that people must say yes. By taking people down the thought process in this manner, they're putting people in a "let's be positive about women" mode of thinking. If you take that and start talking about Hillary Clinton (which is the logical next step), people will be more inclined - having just answered the previous question as it was asked - to ignore the problems with Hillary that might be tied to her being a woman.
I won't get into the list of potential problems with Hillary Clinton as they deserve their own post. Maybe I'll do that while I'm en route to Jacksonville. But probably not - I like enjoying my vacations... Anyway, I just wanted to point out that vague poll questions are dumb. Vague poll questions that are also leading... those really irk me.