The Validity of Polling: Measuring Majority Opinion

From the earliest steps of mankind, polls have been a constant part of human culture. Polls act as the basic tool to find out the majority opinion. They are used in family households to determine subjects such as what to eat for dinner, or what to invest the next paycheck into. However, polls are most often seen as surveys which appear on certain issues or political situations. For instance, different groups will ask a given set of questions to a group of people in order to determine what they believe to be most likely in any given situation, or what they want the most.

My AP Government & Politics class surveyed a group of high school students on a broad set of tropics, ranging from local school issues, to international issues, to opinions about the media. I chose to focus on particular question, and try to come to a valid conclusion on the topic based on the results of the poll. I chose to examine the two following questions, and their relationship with one another.

1.
Please choose which race you consider yourself:
A. White
B. Hispanic
C. Black
D. Asian
E. Other

2.
Are you in favor of making English the official language of the US?
A.
Yes

B. No

I grouped these two questions together for a few simple reasons. I believed that the correlation between the two would be pretty simple; people of which group their nationalities as having English as their primary language, or only language, would be more inclined towards making it the national language. However, people of which have another primary language, or use English as a second language would be more inclined to vote the opposite way. The results of my polling process are shown in "figure A."

The results of the polling process agreed with my oringinal hypothesis. While only 8.6% of white people thought that English should not be the national language, 48% of hispanics polled believed the same thing. However, 77% of the black population and 83% of the asian population believed that English should be the national language. After spending four years at NBTHS, I have come to see that most individuals that do not have strong English skills are the hispanics. Therefore, it makes sense that they would be the largest group against making English the national language of the country, especially when it would cause them difficuty. Most forms in the tri-state area are often available in English and Spanish, making it easier for them to avoid a strong education in English.

Although the poll seems very accurate, it has several elements which may confuse people. Many of the people taking the poll may not have even known that English is not already the national language of the US. Furthermore, they may not understand that there will no longer be multi-lingual forms or signs to help people understand directions. Furthermore, the results of this poll are confined to the beliefs of the members of our school. The question is asking a very small group of people, often with simliar beliefs and thoughts. I do believe it accurately portrays the beliefs of our classmates.

It may generally affect the general populous of the US the same way, seeing as how most of the same standards apply. However, for this poll to be truly accurate, it would need to be targeted at a larger group of people, from various regions, from various ethnic groups, all in proper proportion. Overall, this poll showed a common trend, and did a very good job eliminating factors which would comprise the validity of the question by being as unbiased as possible on a simple issue.