Friday, February 14, 2014

"Going around Congress ..."

I was skimming a few polls and especially this Fox News poll and came across this question:
Regardless of what you think about how things are supposed to work, do you approve or disapprove of Barack Obama going around Congress and using executive orders?
My gut reaction is the "going around Congress" is a bit loaded, a bit biased, in terms of question wording. Let's at least agree it paints Obama in a negative light. Here's my real point. This question come right before the next one, the real story:
Thinking about the 2010 health care law, are you glad the health care law passed or do you wish it hadn’t passed and we still had the system that was in place in 2009?

See the problem? The first question primes a negative attitude about Obama and the second is the real "news" question, that more people wish it hadn't been passed than are glad it was. How much of a prime? Damn little, I suspect, but some, maybe worth a few percentage points.

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