Artful poll yields predictable result

The American Council for the Arts wanted a nice poll that wouldfavor individual grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

So the council got a grant from Philip Morris and retainedpollster Lou Harris. At 71, Harris is old enough to be called theVenerable Lou. He knows that 99 percent of a public opinion polllies in framing the questions to be asked.

So the Venerable Lou took personal charge of this enterprise.He framed some hardball questions that would get to the very core ofhow people feel about the arts. In February his pollsters telephoned1,500 adults and asked them:

"Do you ever find the arts give you an uplift from everydayexperiences?" By jingoes, 70 percent of the respondents said yes.

The Venerable Lou asked them, "How important do you think it isto the quality of life in the community to have such things asmuseums, theater and concert halls in the community?" Forty-eightpercent said very important; 36 percent said somewhat important.

After a series of 13 questions to soften folks up, and to getthem thinking the arts are great, our peerless pollster stoppedstalling around:

"If arts organizations, such as art museums, dance, opera,theater groups and symphony orchestras, need financial assistance tooperate, do you feel that ( ) should provide assistance or not?"

Sixty percent knew the right answer. They shouted, "The federalgovernment should provide assistance!"

Did the respondents feel that artists "work very hard for verylittle money?" Yes, Lou! Are individual professional artists"highly important to the life of the country as the current andpotential creators of the art and culture that the nation needs to bea full and rich place to live?" Said 81 percent: Yessiree bob!

"My name is Lou," said His Eminence. "Let's get down to thenitty-gritty," he said. "The federal government now pays out over$1,000 per capita for defense, $180 for education, and no more than$1.40 for the arts. Would you be willing to pay $25 more in taxes ayear for the arts? $15 more? $10 more? $5 more?"

Here the respondents spit in the old professor's eye. Not evenhalf of them were willing to pay $25 more a year in taxes. Thirtypercent said they were unwilling to pay even a lousy 5 bucks more intaxes to support the arts.

Harris concluded with several questions that demanded seriousthought: "Do you agree that in order for the arts to come forth withtheir best and most creative efforts, the arts need to operate freelywith a minimum of government control?" Eighty percent said rah, rah,rah. Is a diversity of artistic expression desirable? Sure, Lou,said the pollees.

The American Council for the Arts put out a happy press release.Behold! A decisive majority of the people firmly support federalgovernment financing of the arts!

I wonder what the response would have been if the Venerable Louhad asked: Do you agree or disagree that $20,000 of your hard-earnedtaxes should be spent to pay a fellow to translate a work by Ovidinto elegiac couplets? Could this be postponed to a time when we arenot running a $400 billion deficit? Yes or no?"

Well, the American Council for the Arts wanted a nice, unbiasedpoll. Say it for the Venerable Lou: He gave 'em their money's worth.