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Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin
As the author says, nobody disputes that temperatures have risen from hundreds of years ago. There is no controversy about that. If someone asked me a question about whether I believe in global warming, I would assume they were asking me about the controversy, not simply about whether there has been any rise in temperature over the last few hundreds of years. And I assume that is what most people would think if you asked them that question.
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The question was whether they thought most scientists believe climate change is occurring, is not occurring or is evenly divided. It had nothing to do with what the question taker's opinion on climate change is. And you didn't address the point I made, either, which is that the terminology changed halfway through the op ed paragraph on this section.
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If they really wanted to know if people were informed, they should simply ask people simple questions that can't be misinterpreted. Ask them who the vice-president is. Ask them who the Prime Minister of Israel is. I know those questions are simple, but I'd much rather have a non-subjective question that can't be misinterpreted.
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The Fairleigh Dickenson quiz (this is the one we're talking about, right?) did ask questions like that- it asked which nation spent the most money bailing out the financially troubled nations of Europe, for example (a question that has only one right answer). Fox News viewers were more likely to (incorrectly) say the US, than someone who didn't watch the news at all. A regular viewer of the evening news was more likely to know the correct answer than someone who didn't watch news. People who tuned in regularly to NPR were the most likely to know the correct answer.