October 6, 2004
Beware of polls
The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI) is funded by the right-wing Bradley Foundation. Charlie Sykes is a WPRI fellow and I have "debated" with Jim Miller, the WPRI executive director, on the Wisconsin Public Radio political panel. WPRI conducted a poll and, predictably, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel gave front-page coverage to the results, including the finding that 67 percent of Wisconsin residents would favor the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights or TABOR.
In reality, the reason for releasing the poll seems clear. It is to give a boost to TABOR in the MJS and on the morning screed of Journal Communications' own Charlie Sykes on WTMJ radio.
Okay, so what if the Bradley Foundation is part of the effort to influence the Legislature? So what if Charlie Sykes and MJS are part of the package? The "so what" is that MJS fails to tell the public who funded the poll, who asked the questions, who decided to release it. And, in a disappointing report on Wisconsin Public Radio, there was no explanation of the right-wing character of WPRI. That is important. We expect more from WPR.
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