This anti-rights screed by Senators Murphy and Feinstein offers so much commentary fodder. But I’m going to hit one point here.

Act to Break the Cycle of Gun Deaths
Outlawing these weapons, an action supported by 60 percent of Americans…

They seem to be referencing a recent Quinnipiac poll. We’re going to take a closer look.

48. Do you support or oppose stricter gun laws in the United States?
Support 61%
Oppose 34%
DK/NA 5%

As usual, I’ll say that means little, because the general population (from personal observations and conversations) knows little about existing laws. That’s why we see legislators entering bills to make domestic violence offenders prohibited persons, and to make it illegal to manufacture and undetectable guns… even though both have been the law for decades.

But accepting those numbers for the moment, drill down to the specifics.

49. Do you support or oppose requiring background checks for all gun buyers?
Support 94%
Oppose 4%
DK/NA 2%

More than a third of the population opposes stricter “gun laws” but want universal background checks?

50. Do you support or oppose requiring individuals to obtain a license before being able to purchase a gun?
Support 77%
Oppose 19%
DK/NA 4%

More than a third of the population opposes stricter “gun laws” but want licensing?

51. Do you support or oppose a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons?
Support 63%
Oppose 33%
DK/NA 4%

Ah ha! numbers that roughly match at last. But even less meaningful than question 48. What’s an “assault weapon”? No two jurisdictions that have such a thing define it the same way. How many people who “support” a ban think they’re talking about AK-47s and M-16s? How many realize common AWB proposals would ban their hunting rifle?

Setting aside the silly contradictions of alleged responses to those questions, let’s see how they went about asking folks. And where.

Here is Quinnipiac’s methodolgy:

The overall adult sample is weighted to recent Census data using a sample balancing procedure to match the demographic makeup of the population by region, gender, age, education and race.

Weighted by region. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, done correctly. But… region? Not state? What are the “regions”?

https://poll.qu.edu/regional-definitions/

Regional Definitions

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York City, New York State, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin.

15 “regions,” representing just 14 states. New York City gets equal billing. All the selection is biased towards Democrat holdings, don’t you think?

Considering the population densities, they’ve selected regions guaranteed to provide a Democrat bias’ A huge swathe of the country doesn’t get polled at all.

Ever.

The methodology told what states they used for this poll, but I got curious as to how extensive the problem might be. Searching their site for other states, I found their search tool.

16 states total. That’s it. Biased toward Dem and swing states. Searching for Georgia polls (all) for “gun control” yields…

Zilch. They don’t survey Georgia on the topic. Georgia, where roughly 1 in eight adults has a concealed carry license, and there’s at least a shotgun in damned near every home.

If any other state is there, I can’t find it.

I now understand why Quinnipiac polls have always been so far twisted to the Left.

While a more blatant way of biasing a poll, it’s far from the only technique. Several pollsters tried to get the youngest — and more likely to be liberal and ill-informed — potential voters.

“For the landline sample, interviewers requested to speak with the youngest male member of the household who is at least 18 years of age; if there was no male in the household, interviewers requested the youngest female.”

If you want to survey people to see what new laws they want, do it this way.

Quinnipiac’s — and those other offenders’ — technique are best suited to obscuring the truth, not finding it.

[Permission to republish this article is granted so long as it is not edited and the author and The Zelman Partisans are credited.]

 

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