"Center-right?" No, just wrong.
A couple of reporters today are trumpeting a Gallup poll that purports to, in the words of Time's Bryan Walsh, explain "why people say the U.S. is a center-right country."
Except, of course, that the poll shows nothing of the sort. I've long had problems with the way Gallup phrases many of its polls; many of the questions seem guaranteed to result in response bias. It could be the dated nature of Gallup's tracking polls - the questions haven't changed in 40 years.
But take a look at the question in, um, question:
In your opinion, which of the following will be the biggest threat to the country in the future -big business, big labor, or big government?
"Big Government?" That's Big Brother's cousin, right? Paging Senator McCarthy, Gallup has some news for you ...
Needless to say, the poll outcome is entirely predictable. But Klein's and Walsh's analysis seem to miss the point.
There are a lot of liberals who hate the Patriot Act, the way the SEC buddies up with banks, and our bloated defense budget, and who would refer to these problems as "Big Government." That doesn't make them enemies of social security, infrastructure investments, and public health care - or "center right," to use the favored term in Washington.
But it does make Gallup's poll question - and the media's coverage of it - wrong.
