| Red Flags |
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| Surveys are a useful tool, but many times they should be used with caution. Public Agenda's Red Flags examines areas of public opinion research where findings may be misleading, unstable, or easily misinterpreted. |
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 ABORTION
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Mixed Feelings
Survey questions about the legality of abortion often draw different responses depending on how questions are worded. (read the full article)
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Private vs. Public Morality
Often there is a distinction between what people consider right for them and what they think should be written into law. (read the full article)
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AMERICA'S GLOBAL ROLE
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When to Intervene
The public’s views on when the U.S. should intervene in world affairs are often uncertain and reflect the tensions that have marked U.S. foreign policy thinking since Woodrow Wilson. (read the full article)
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Lack of Knowledge
Americans don’t know the particulars of many foreign policy issues. (read the full article)
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Ambivalence on Foreign Trade
Attitudes about foreign trade are tinged with both frustration and fatalism. (read the full article)
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Foreign Aid: Yes, No and Maybe
Americans have historically been skeptical about foreign aid. (read the full article)
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Attitudes Toward China
Surveys suggest that many Americans do not know what to make of China. (read the full article)
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CAMPAIGN FINANCE
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Campaign Finance Reform
Half of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the nation’s campaign finance laws. At the same time, most of the public does not see campaign finance reform as an election issue or a priority for Congress. (read the full article)
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What Do We Look For in a President?
Surveys reveal that Americans want their President to have it all – integrity, sound judgment in times of crisis, compassion, vision, experience, and political effectiveness. (read the full article)
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Civic Duty, Wishful Thinking.
People sometimes answer poll questions with what they think they should do rather than what they actually do. (read the full article)
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CHILD CARE
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How Much Government Support?
Recent surveys show that parents support many governmental measures to improve the quality and availability of child care, but the high level of support may not be the green light it appears to be. (read the full article)
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Should Mom Stay Home?
Americans’ views on working mothers are complex, perhaps even ambivalent. (read the full article)
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Should Employers Do More?
National surveys show broad support for employers providing more benefits for working parents, and half say their own employer could do more to help them manage. But these ideas may not be as popular and practical as they first appear to be. (read the full article)
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CRIME
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Strong Support for Gun Control, But Will It Work?
Surveys find a majority of the public supports stronger gun control legislation, a level that has been fairly consistent over the past several years, but most people do not want a complete ban. (read the full article)
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The Racial and Ethnic Divide
National public opinion data can mask an extremely important racial and ethnic divide in people's views about crime and criminal justice. (read the full article)
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ECONOMY
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Optimism and Doubt
A majority of Americans have viewed economic conditions as below par since April 2001 and are divided on whether conditions will be better in a year. (read the full article)
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Trust in Business
In the years since the scandals at WorldCom and Enron broke, the public remains skeptical of the business world in some ways. (read the full article)
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EDUCATION
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More Money For Schools?
Surveys often find most Americans favor increasing federal spending on education and generally support raising taxes to improve the nation’s public schools. (read the full article)
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Testing: One Measure Among Many?
Americans broadly favor testing to measure academic performance, as long as it’s not the only benchmark. (read the full article)
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Little Knowledge about No Child Left Behind.
While most Americans have heard of the No Child Left Behind Act, nearly seven in 10 say they don’t know enough to form an opinion. (read the full article)
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Lack of Knowledge About Vouchers.
Many Americans admit they are not familiar with school voucher programs – as many as 40 percent in one survey. (read the full article)
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ENVIRONMENT
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How Important Are Environmental Issues?
Americans give mixed signals on just how important protecting the environment is to them. (read the full article)
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Environmental Protection -- At What Price?
When surveys ask people to choose between the environment and the economy, answers change depending on how well the economy is doing – and many resist the choice even during prosperous times. (read the full article)
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Consumption and Conservation
As with other environmental questions, there is evidence that the public does not see this as an either/or choice. (read the full article)
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FEDERAL BUDGET
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Mixed Signals on Government Spending
People seem conflicted or inconsistent in their thinking about how much the federal government should take on. (read the full article)
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Taxes: Too much, too complicated?
Half of the public says federal income taxes are too high, but a majority says the amount they pay is fair. (read the full article)
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Waste, Fraud and Abuse?
Accountability in government spending is a major concern for the public, with the average American saying about half of every tax dollar is wasted by the federal government. (read the full article)
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GAY RIGHTS
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Ambivalence and Mixed Messages
A number of findings suggest that many Americans feel some tension between their desire to be fair to those who are different from themselves and a lingering unease with homosexuality itself. (read the full article)
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Marriage by Another Name?
A majority of Americans oppose same-sex marriage, but the word "marriage" makes a big difference in survey results. (read the full article)
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Disapproval vs. Punishment
On some questions of personal conduct, such as abortion and adultery, surveys show that significant numbers of Americans want these actions to be illegal. However, that doesn't necessarily mean the public wants people to be arrested. (read the full article)
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HEALTH CARE
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Universal Care
The public clearly favors expanding health care to cover more Americans, but support for a universal health care system varies depending on survey question wording -- an indication that the public is still working through their thinking on this issue. (read the full article)
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Lack of Realism on Health Costs?
The public shows significant concerns about rising health care costs, but there's a perception gap between experts and the public about what might be driving these costs. (read the full article)
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Managed Care: Perception vs. Experience
There is something of a paradox in the public's thinking about managed care. (read the full article)
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Medical Malpractice Lawsuits: How Much is Too Much?
A majority of Americans think patients bring too many lawsuits against doctors and half say they're awarded too much money, but there is ambiguity in the public's thinking. (read the full article)
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HIGHER EDUCATION
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Affirmative Action: What a Difference a Word Makes
Survey responses on affirmative action and increasing diversity on campus vary dramatically depending on how questions are worded and whether they emphasize the goal of diversity or focus explicitly on the issue of preferences. (read the full article)
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Paying the Bill
When it comes to paying for college, the public sends distinctly mixed signals about how serious the problem is and frankly admits its own lack of knowledge. (read the full article)
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Does Everyone Need to Go to College?
There are some contradictions in the public's thinking about the necessity of a college education. (read the full article)
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You Get Back What You Put In
Many experts worry about the fact that so many college students need remedial help or even drop out because they're struggling with their studies. (read the full article)
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ILLEGAL DRUGS
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Liberal or Conservative?
Opinion polls suggest that the public's views on how to combat illegal drug use don't fall crisply into either a liberal or conservative ideology. (read the full article)
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IMMIGRATION
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Legal vs. Illegal Immigration
In surveys, the public consistently makes a sharp distinction between legal and illegal immigrants. (read the full article)
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Mixed Views on Legal Immigration
The public is quite conflicted on the impact of immigration and many hold positive and negative attitudes about legal immigration simultaneously. (read the full article)
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Citizens and Non-Citizens
When surveys ask about how citizens and non-citizens are treated by the law, the public's responses often change depending on how the poll question is worded. (read the full article)
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INTERNET SPEECH/PRIVACY
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Policing the Net
Americans give inconsistent signals concerning the government's role on the Internet. (read the full article)
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In Principle, Yes...
Public attitudes about freedom of expression issues show signs of inconsistency and are often self-contradictory. (read the full article)
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Sales Tax
When people are asked whether or not there should be an Internet sales tax, fewer than half say yes. (read the full article)
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MEDICAL RESEARCH
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Cloning
Surveys show most Americans are appalled by the idea of duplicating humans by cloning, but that may not be their final answer on all cloning, in all cases. (read the full article)
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Limited Knowledge
Though Americans say they are very interested in new medical advances, they aren't always familiar with individual developments. (read the full article)
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MEDICARE
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Fear and a Lack of Realism
Recent surveys show that a large majority of the public is afraid Medicare will not be there for them when they retire and that major change is needed. Beyond this fear, however, surveys reveal some murky and unrealistic thinking on the part of the public. (read the full article)
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POVERTY AND WELFARE
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The "Deserving Poor" vs. "Welfare Recipients"
Opinion researchers have long observed that survey questions asking about "the poor" elicit far more positive attitudes than those asking about "welfare." (read the full article)
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Neither Liberal or Conservative Approaches to Welfare
The public’s thinking on welfare does not fit easily into either liberal or conservative political frameworks. (read the full article)
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The Homeless: As Long as They Don't Bother Anybody...
The public is sympathetic toward the homeless (and the poor in general), but there's a libertarian streak in public attitudes. (read the full article)
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RACE
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Affirmative Action? Preferences? Special Efforts?
Survey responses on affirmative action and diversity vary dramatically depending on how questions are worded. (read the full article)
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Racial Profiling and the War on Terror
The public's shock and grief in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks produced profoundly conflicted survey results on racial profiling - the officially improper but widely practiced technique of identifying potential suspects by their race. (read the full article)
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RIGHT TO DIE
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Question Wording Matters
Public views on whether the country should legalize doctor-assisted suicide exhibit one of the chief markers of unresolved thinking: responses change when questions are re-worded. (read the full article)
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