Over 70 percent of troops say it's time to withdraw from Iraq, according to a recent Zogby poll extensively covered in the mainstream media.
Economist and Air Force veteran Tim Kane takes a closer look at the poll and finds major problems. Zogby's poll, he writes, was "like a multiple-choice test with no right answers." For example, troops could choose that they believed the U.S. should stay in Iraq "indefinitely" or "withdraw" at several different dates. What about troops who think the U.S. should stay for one year, five years, or however long? Sorry, that's not one of the choices.
According to Kane, the poll included "questions aplenty on napalm, interrogation, and doubling the number of bombing missions." How many questions did Zogby ask about the state of the U.S. mission, morale, progress in tracking down terrorists, and prospects for democracy and economic growth? None.
So is the Zogby poll "(a) biased, (b) dishonest, or (c) all of the above?" Don't like those choices? Sorry, that's all they gave us.
Read Poll Too Biased To Show Troops' Views by Tim Kane, Ph.D.