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The ordering of the questions [0] strikes me as lending to a priming [1] effect, the first two questions evoke memories of media reports of violence on both sid
by dooglius 8y ago
The ordering of the questions [0] strikes me as lending to a priming [1] effect, the first two questions evoke memories of media reports of violence on both sides, which makes the leap to civil war seem more likely by the third question.
[0] http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/questions/pt_survey_questions/june_2018/questions_civil_war_june_21_and_24_2018 http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/ques...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_(psychology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_(psychology)
- mikenyc 8y agoI agree. There is some priming in the cadence of the questions. It's also likely that given the state of civic knowledge and education in the country that respondents conflated something like "violence" or "minor fighting with a political tinge" to "civil war" without really understanding how immense of a thing a US civil war actually would be. But still, to me, even the idea that a much smaller percentage of Americans (let's say 15%) could imagine a civil war happening in the next 5 years was shocking on its face, and worthy of awareness and discussion.