Tonight Only: Poll vs. Poll
“If at first you don’t like public opinion… poll, poll again.”
Frustrated by polls indicating that a majority of Americans think Michael Schiavo was within his rights to remove his brain dead wife’s feeding tube, pollster Zogby has responded with a poll of their own, intending to fight the alleged bias of the earlier polls. Of course, the best weapon against bias is… more bias.
“If a disabled person is not terminally ill, not in a coma, and not being kept alive on life support, and they have no written directive, should or should they not be denied food and water,” the poll asked.
A whopping 79 percent said the patient should not have food and water taken away while just 9 percent said yes.
Life News: Zogby Poll
You may disagree with Florida law, but according to the law, a feeding tube is just as much a life sustaining procedure as a ventilator. Having food forcibly pumped into your stomach is considered artificial support of a vital function. Also, the question seems to ask for what should be done in every case. “should or should they not be denied food and water” would be better phrased as “should their guardian be permitted to remove a feeding tube.” No one is going to say that they think feeding tubes should always be removed. And what of the sworn testimony by multiple people that Terri Schiavo had expressed that she wouldn’t want to be kept alive in this state? That doesn’t merit inclusion into the question?
This looks like another case of “here are the facts, and here is our desired poll result… now how do we get from A to B?”
Update: Michelle Malkin reports on skepticism about this poll among conservative bloggers.
