Michael Dimock, director of Pew Research Center for the People & the Press responds via email to my item taking issue with the wording of their recent poll question on the Zimmerman verdict.
I wrote:
A Pew Research Center poll
taken last weekend showed a nation divided over the verdict in the
George Zimmerman trial, with 42 percent “dissatisfied” with the not
guilty verdict, 39 percent “satisfied” and the remaining 19 percent
saying they had no opinion.
Had they surveyed me, I would have expressed dissatisfaction with the wording of the poll question.
While verdicts may or may not satisfy the public — offer resolution
and closure — that’s not their purpose. Their purpose is to dispense
justice under the law, however emotionally unsatisfying that might be in
any particular case.
Instead of “Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the Zimmerman
verdict?” better the Pew poll should have asked “Do you think the jury
made the correct decision at the Zimmerman trial?”
Dimock wrote:
The question wording didn’t seem to matter: asking if people were “satisfied” with the verdict (as we did), “approve” of the verdict (as WashPost/ABC News did), or whether the verdict was “right or wrong” (as Gallup did) largely delivered the same basic results.
And, indeed, he pointed me here where we find
ABC News/Washington Post: Do you approve or disapprove of the jury's verdict last week finding Zimmerman not guilty in Martin's death? (Approve, 41% Disapprove 41% Unsure 18%)
Gallup: As you may know, a jury recently found George Zimmerman not guilty of second degree murder or manslaughter in the death of Trayvon Martin. From what you know about the case, do you think the verdict was right or wrong? Right 43% Wrong 40% Unsure 17%
Point for Pew. I regret the presumption and am impressed by the consistency in these polling results across agencies. I'll be interested to see if the split changes in one year, five years or 10 years, when conventional wisdom tends to coalesce around particular narratives.
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