Well, would you look at that.

[featherynscale]

Well, this just about makes my morning: Fox News (yeah, that Fox News) poll shows a plurality of respondents favor civil unions for same-sex couples. Granted, the question asked does specify that proposed civil unions would not be marriages, but still - positive movement.

Don't get me wrong, I'm after marriage rights for everybody, but I'm willing to accept this civil union thing as a temporary measure.

Comments

Re: Mmmm, statistics

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

See, I saw that too, and considered the verb, but was more into the dynamics of "that are not marriages" vs. "giving them the legal rights of married couples". In the first example, the possibility is left open for respondents (respondants?) to think that the civil union is sort of a marriage, second class - which I think appeals to the "compassionate conservatives" - in the second, even though the message is the same, the surface structure places civil union and marriage on a more even footing.

I think you're missing something else though - the second doesn't ask "should gay couples do this?" but "should they be allowed to do this?" That tweaks the function of the question to include measuring where respondents fall on an authoritarian/libertarian continuum, as well as what they think about this particular issue.

Yay! I could talk about the language and structure of polling questions for days - psychometrics and research design were my favorites in college. (And semantics has been a favorite forever.)