Public Opinion and Health Legislation, Coursework Example

Perlstadt & Holmes (1987)  state that in many cases, the importance and significance of public opinion polls can be overstated. While the polls are good for measuring the feelings of the public towards proposed policies, it is important that researchers create surveys that are providing objective questions and real insights into the feelings of the surveyed people. Further, selecting the demographic characteristics of the participants can have an influence on results. This is often hard to determine. While the surveys mentioned by Perlstadt and Holmes (1987, p. 163) seem to be randomized, there is a possibility that the wording of the questions and the previous general questions influenced answers.

Morone, Litman & Robins (2008, p. 252) state that “Americans often hold parallel and conflicting values”. In the case of smoking in public case, different results can be obtained if the question is worded: “employers should allow smokers to freely pollute indoor air, to provide them a freedom of choice” or “it is the government’s responsibility to protect the health of non-smokers at the workplace”.

In the examples, it is clearly visible that the first, general questions were used to influence public opinion. As Morone, Litman & Robins (2008, p. 253) confirms: “Americans often agree on broad goals but disagree on the means”. This phenomenon might be responsible for the different results of various surveys.

In the Michigan survey, response was sought for the following statement: “Government should not be in the business of regulating private, personal behavior” (Perlstadt and Holmesm 1987, p. 613), creating a theme and building upon the general distrust in policymakers. As Morone, Litman & Robins (2008, p. 259) sum it up: “though Americans show strong support for national efforts to improve health, they have a deep suspicion of government”. Therefore, the perquisites used by the surveying company or organization can influence the results, and serve the goals of political lobbyists.

References

Morone, J., Litman, T. & Robins, L. (2008) Health politics and policy. Cengage Learning.

Perlstadt, H. & Holmes. R. (1987) The role of public opinion polling in health legislation. American Journal of Public Health 0090-0036/87