An Examination Of Opinion Polls In The Media

An Examination Of Opinion Polls In The Media

1300 Words

The 3 opinion polls I chose are all in relation to HIV and AIDS. The relations are very obvious since the polls all stand in direct relation to those two topics, but I think it's very interesting to see the different reactions of people around the world, which is why I chose the Thai based United Nations Development Resource Opinion Poll as one source and as another source I chose one taken by the Kaiser Family Foundation, as third Opinion Poll I choose one taken by the Indian Doctor network NDTV, all three of them stand in no direct connection to each other Ð'- as far as we officially know, of course, and with this there is little chance that all three of the polls might have been altered by any party.

The firsts poll deals mainly with the question if the Thai government is doing enough to deal with the problem of HIV and AIDS in the country, and what Thai people would do if they'd find out a local shopkeeper or teacher had AIDS. I think this is really interesting, since there are still a lot of people who are very prejudiced towards HIV positives. Thailand is one of the Asian tigers, with a huge export (they're world's number one in rice export) but except for having big cities, huge production facilities, a fairly small middle class and an even smaller ruling elite, it should still be considered as one of the third world countries, since its population is still overwhelmingly rural and poor, hence the educational level and standard of knowledge lies lower than the one most college students have been through, hence there is no surprise that 44% of Thai would not buy at the local shop anymore if they'd find out its shopkeeper bears the HI-Virus. And 69% of Thai think AIDS education should begin in Primaryschool as opposing to 28% who think Lower Secondaryschool would be enough (or the 4% who think Higher Secondaryschool would be alright). The Poll also shows a big dissatisfaction in the way the Thai Government approaches AIDS in the country. The Polls weren't published in any newspaper in Thailand.

This second opinion poll by the KFF based in California, in the United States of America asked 2517 adults (aged 18 and over) what their opinion concerning the United States' standards on HIV/ AIDS are. This national survey concludes that Americans think their Government should spend more money to fight the virus abroad and in the own country, and this even though Americans find it less and less appealing to give foreign aid since their own budged is in a large deficit. 60% of the poll takers even think that the United States are a global leader and should help fight HIV and AIDS because it's their responsibility. These are 16% more than in a similar poll taken in 2002.

Very frightening is the fact that high percentages of Americans still think that the Virus can be spread through kissing or sharing a drinking glass (37% and 22%). Before jumping to the Ð''aid' of other countries, should the United States not try and better educate its own people on this topic?

As my third poll I choose an Opinion Poll taken by the Indian Doctor network NDTV, who among others also asked the question if Aids is getting too much media attention at the expense of more common diseases, like, for example, TB or Malaria. 56% of its voters voted yes. One in three people die of TB, which is as a matter of fact really very clearly the higher percentage to AIDS. And 74% of the voters think hospital patients should be tested for HIV without their consent.

This might actually really be a good idea, since a lot of people are clearly just scared to hear the doctor say Ð''you are HIV positive' and rather take the chance of not going at all.

89% on the other hand think India is already doing enough in AIDS matters, but with India being one of the most populated countries in the world, with 5 million out of one billion currently living with the Virus, this can barely be a good thing. According to some other estimates India has a larger number of HIV positives