Surveys are an excellent way of finding out what people are thinking and feeling.
But they can also be used to push people towards what you want them to think. In this form it’s called “push polling.”
There are many ways to use surveys to get the answers you want. You can frame the questions in such a way that every answer is a version of your view, or simply don’t include any option to oppose that view.
Let’s use a fictitious example. Say the Brussels Sprouts Growers of Alberta wanted to claim that most people in Alberta loved eating Brussels sprouts.
They might do a survey with a long description of how wonderful Brussels sprouts are, followed questions like “How do you like eating Brussels sprouts?” and “What do you love best about Brussels sprouts?”. They might just forget to include options like “I don’t like Brussels sprouts.”
If that didn’t work, and people still insisted on saying how much they hated Brussels sprouts, they might get a bit more selective about who they’re asking – say, only sending the survey out to the Brussels Sprouts Growers of Alberta mailing list, and maybe to the members of the “I Love Brussels Sprouts” group on Facebook.
Or, we could just look at what the provincial government is doing with its Alberta Next panels currently touring the province.
The provincial government has spent a lot of time asking Albertans what they think about proto-sovereigntist ideas like withdrawing from the Canada Pension Plan and creating an Alberta Provincial Police to replace the RCMP. And they’ve demonstrated a pattern of asking again when the results aren’t in favour of those ideas – hence the Alberta Next panel.
The sessions held so far have been heavy on the government agenda, requiring attendees to sit through long videos pushing the province’s point of view on the issues in question before asking for people’s opinions. And the original online surveys asking people’s opinions on the Alberta Pension Plan and provincial police didn’t give people the option to disagree with the concepts.
The next Albert Next in-person town hall is in Edmonton Aug. 14, with registration opening two weeks before the event.
Groups like the Alberta Institute, which actively support Alberta sovereigntist projects, are actively encouraging their members to sign up for this session before it sells out. In other words, they’re working to pack the room.
That’s not to say there’s no support for these ideas – there is a significant percentage of Albertans who are frustrated with the province’s relationship with the rest of Canada and the federal government in particular and agree with the sovereignty agenda.
But a significant percentage is not a majority, nor should it be allowed to masquerade as one thanks to push-poll citizen engagement.
Fighting that is up to you. If you’re uncomfortable with the province continuing to take steps away from confederation, don’t assume your voice is being heard, and don't think that refusing to participate will starve this process of legitimacy. Register for the next in-person session or one of the upcoming online surveys, and make it heard.
Otherwise, we could see a minority view presented as a majority on some of the most critical issues this province has ever faced.
In other words, if you don’t like Brussels sprouts but you don’t say so, don’t be surprised if you end up with a plate full of them.
