Beginning my Questionnaire

I am getting ready to begin designing my questionnaire for my poll. I have decided to focus this poll on the issue of global warming. I am going to be designing it around what people feel about the subject, if they think it is a legitimate topic, and weather it is something that we need to be focusing on right now. Some things that I am really going to be paying attention to when designing my questionnaire are: the correct formation of the questions, avoiding non-attitudes, and making everything complete as possible. I am planning on looking at some of the polls that I have already posted about and studying how they form their questions and how many questions are suffice.

In U.S., Water Pollution Top Environmental Worry

In U.S., Water Pollution Top Environmental Worry

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This is a video that looks at a poll that was taken here in the US. Through this poll, it was found that most Americans are worried about pollution in their drinking water and also contamination of rivers and lakes. Something that Americans aren't very worried about is global warming, perhaps one of the highest risk issues at stake. The reporter mentions at the end that maybe Americans aren't very worried about global warming because it isn't that big of an issue yet. I beg to differ....

Non-attitudes

In class, we have recently been discussing the topic of non-attitudes in polls. My topic is environmental issues and I was thinking if non-attitudes will be something that I will have to consider when designing my poll. I think that it may be an issue in some cases. I have a feeling that some people just really don't care about the environment and don't care to learn about policies regarding the environment. Because of this, I think that there may be some problems with non-attitudes. These people who don't really care about the subject are likely to not have any type of opinion and may give a false opinion. I may have to include the option of "no opinion" or "I don't know" in my questionnaire. Other option for avoiding non-attitudes is setting up screening questions so that any non-attitudes will be more evident and i can discard them from my results.

Globalization Class Discussion

Today in my globalization class, we focused on the topic of the ecological dimensions of globalization. In doing so, we looked at the environment from a global scale. Although the more developed countries in the north are mostly responsible for greenhouse gas emissions, those in the more underdeveloped countries in the south are having to deal with it most. My teacher handed out a BBC News article about African countries speaking out about this problem. "Africa seeks climate change cash" discusses the upcoming UN meeting about the replacement of the soon to be expired elements of the Kyoto protocol. It mentions that the African Union will suggest that developed countries should cut greenhouse gas emissions by AT LEAST 40% (WOW) by 2020, and that these nations should provide $67 billion A YEAR to help out the countries with most need develop and deal with the rising temperatures. Is this actually a feasible suggestion? I think that the money that the AU is asking for is a ridiculous amount, especially since the United States and other wealthy countries give many countries in Africa billions of dollars in aid already.

Link to Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8217449.stm

Realization of Climate Change

I think that people are beginning to understand that the climate is changing and it is effecting many things around us. Through a gallup poll, seventeen major world economies were asked various questions dealing with climate change. There were, unfortunately, some countries who responded that they didn't know very much about climate change. (Indonesia, India and South Africa) Most of these countries polled said that global warming is a serious issue that directly affects their family. This is something that I don't think wasn't very common just a few years ago. Many people used to think that global warming was only a myth.

Link to poll :
http://www.gallup.com/poll/121526/Major-Economies-Threat-Climate-Change.aspx

The economy or the environment?

The economy is the issue at hand at present time, even over the environment. In a gallup poll taken in march of 2009, 1,012 adults were asked: "With which one of these statements about the environment and the economy do you most agree -- [ROTATED: protection of the environment should be given a priority, even at the risk of curbing economic growth (or) economic growth should be given priority, even if the environment suffers to some extent]?" Fifty one percent say that economic growth should be priority and forty two percent say the priorty should remain with the enviorment. The results of this poll are really not too suprising, given the current state of our economy. What I do find interesting, though, is the fact that the question even includes "if the environment suffers to some extent." I thought that people would still take the environment more in consideration then the results showed. I am also interested in what the results would be a few months or years down the road.
LINK to poll: http://www.pollster.com/blogs/us_economy_vs_environment_gall.php

Opposition to Cash for Clunkers

The cash for clunkers plan was for people to trade in their old gas guzzlers and receive a rebate of up to 4,500 hundred dollars. Advertisements for this are all over the radio and I have heard many people talk about how they are interested in taking advantage of this. At the same time, many people have been saying that it was a stupid move made by the government. I found a poll on the Rassmussen Reports website dealing with this issue. The survey was conducted in mid-June. When asked if people would be interested in taking advantage of the program, 17% said that they were very likely to and another 18% said that they were somewhat likely to do so. Even though people are willing to take this money when it benefits them, 54% said that they are opposed to the "cash for clunkers" program and 12% said that they were undecided about it. The number of people signing onto this program greatly exeeded the government's expectations, yet the response is somewhat negetive.
The poll also looked at the difference between men's response, which is more supportive, and women's. Government employees are seen to like it more than those who work in the private sector. Fifty percent of all adults think that the program should be limited to buying cars that are made in America.

Here is the link to the poll discussed:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/auto_industry/july_2009/most_oppose_cash_for_clunkers_but_many_willing_to_take_the_money_if_offered

Small-Buisness Owners Struggling to go Green

When searching for something to discuss in my presentation for class this week, I stumbled upon an interesting Poll by Gallup Organizations. This poll, out of Princeton, New Jersey, focused in on small businesses. Many of the businesses surveyed said that it is hard to be "green" in today's economy. In fact, "One in three small business owners say the economy has impacted their plans to become more green" (http://www.gallup.com/poll/117340/Small-Business-Owners-Struggling-Become-Green.aspx). I think that this is really interesting and something I never actually thought of. Many of the large corporations are seen as going green, but they have more money and they are more regulated by the government. Walmart even shuts off the majority of their lights inside whenever it is sunny because they have the large windows on the roof.

A Little About Me

My name is Caley Kalk. I am a senior at Illinois State, majoring in Politics and Government. I am from a small town, located about ten miles south of Champaign, called Pesotum. I work in Eastland Mall at the Payless. I have been there a year and a half. I live in Normal with my boyfriend of six years who is also a student at ISU, he is in the Athletic Training Graduate Program.

Throughout the duration of the semester for my Public Opinion course, I am going to focus on the issue of Energy and the Enviornment. I am taking another politics course that is focused on the enviornment, so I think that it should help me keep updated and informed about new things occuring within my issue.