Polls need to be very carefully worded to have any value. A current NZ referendum on whether parents should legally be allowed to smack their children is so double-weighted it is unlikely to be heeded by Government, whatever its outcome.
A poll on the rabidly anti-government blogsite Intelligentsiya, answered by 140 of its readers, provides a further example of poor poll question wording. "Can we have a new government in power by 2010?" attracted a 62% "yes" and 37% "no" response. But what do these responses mean? Those saying "yes" probably indicated a wish with which many saying "no" might have agreed but they voted "no" because they thought it unlikely, and some of the "noes" may not want elections by 2010.
Taking the sentence apart, what does can mean? Technically possible? A realistic possibility? Or merely something we want or would like to see? What does new government mean? Only one --or any-- type of government? Not the old Qarase SDL-led government? A new SDL-led government? Or some other "led" government? And who are We? Those who support Intelligentsiya's perspectives? Ethnic Fijians? Or all Fiji citizens? Take your pick.
Less ambiguous wording would have been: "Government should hold elections no later than 2010." Or "I would like elections under the old electoral system to be held no later than 2010" Or "I would like elections, even under a new electoral system, to be held no later than 2010". Or "I urge all those currently opposing the Interim Government, and the Interim Government, to enter into genuine dialogue with each other so that elections may be held by 2010." And I'm not totally happy with any of my "improvements."
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