NBC's televised segment "The First National Referendum-Government Reform" presented by Ross Perot was a well-orchestrated move on his part. Enticing viewers to fill out and mail in a survey expressing their feelings and/or opinions in my mind is a great way to solicit data for future references. This type of calling out gives a sense of power to the public. Giving them the opportunity to communicate their own personal views of what and how things should be done is the most effective way of arousing people. The benefits however are outweighed by the pitfalls of such type of polling.
The data that will be received from the respondents would more likely be from specific groups or classes rather than the overall population for which it is intended. From an overall standpoint, many respondents will be excluded from responding to such poll request. My reasoning is that, in order to respond, certain general criteria must be in place.
The first criteria would be to have a television, and second, a potential respondent must have possession of a TV Guide magazine. Both criteria must be met in order for anybody to be able to convey any opinion. Another pitfall of such televised request polls is that people must watch the show. These three things must be in place in order for Mr. Perot to be able to have the chance to convince the viewers to reply. The bottom line is that the poll misses the true data of most Americans, thus only a select few economic groups are represented.
The questions that have been created represent intelligent ways of eliciting information by stirring emotions out of people by bring to light a common subject that has no discrimination-taxes and money. This type of polling is a great leverage builder for a...