Not all poll questions are created equally and‚Ää—‚Ääunfortunately‚Ää—‚Ääsometimes pollsters tip the scales. That was certainly the case with a question posed by Dan Jones and Associates on behalf of the Salt Lake Tribune and the Hinckley Institute of Politics in a recent poll about Bears Ears National Monument.
The question reads: The state of Utah has recommended shrinking the new Bears Ears National Monument from 1.3 million acres to 120,000 acres. Do you agree that Bears Ears is too big?
The question begins by leading respondents towards the conclusion that Bears Ears is large, citing that Utah’s elected officials want to see it diminished ten-fold. Then the question pivots away from whether respondents agree with the specific request from Utah officials, and instead asks vaguely, “Do you agree that Bears Ears is too big?”