By Dan Martin
Filed Monday, May 07, 2007 at 10:38 AM
Fired Up! Missouri brought to our attention today a story run by the Post-Dispatch. According to the story, "A poll released today by a Clayton research institute shows two-thirds of Missouri residents favor the controversial school choice legislation defeated earlier this year by the state House of Representatives." Labels: Media_Watch, Schools
The story goes on to explain that the survey "found that 67 percent of Missourians support the tax credit proposal."
The problem Fired Up! Missouri brought to our attention is that the Post-Dispatch story downplays the fact that the survey was conducted on behalf of the Show-Me Institute by Market Research Insight.
The Show-Me Institute itself is an advocacy organization that supported the defeated legislation, and Market Research Insight is a paid consultant of Governor Matt Blunt, for whom school vouchers are key re-election issue. The organizations are mentioned in the story, but there is little recognition of the fact that the survey results come from these biased organizations.
PubDef has acquired a copy of the survey results and of the email policy briefing sent to Missouri policy makers, written by . Upon comparison, the two documents demonstrate significant discrepancies, and it is evident that Post-Dispatch reporter Steve Giegerich either did not have access to or did not examine the actual survey document himself.
For example, the "policy briefing" reported that "63 percent of respondents said they believe public education in Missouri is "in a crisis" or has "serious problems." The same number was reported by the Post-Dispatch. The actual question and statewide percentages by response are:
"Which of the following statements comes closer to representing your personal opinion about public schools in Missouri?"
In other words, 26% of residents feel that public education is "in a crisis," while 65% do not. The numbers from the policy briefing just aren't from the copy of the survey results PubDef obtained.
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