Ninety-three percent of Northern Virginia residents “favor” the extension of Metro heavy rail to Tysons Corner and into Loudoun County, according to a poll commissioned by the Dulles Corridor Rail Association and conducted by iQ Research & Consulting.
Overwhelming majorities of respondants (80 percent or more) answered in the affirmative when asked if the project would “provide another way to get to and from Dulles Airport,” “provide more choice in ways to get to and around the area,” and “help reduce fuel consumption/energy use.” (Interestingly, only 62 percent agreed, when prompted that the project would “reduce growth in traffic congestion.”) Few surprises here.
The poll got the response it was designed to get. Heck, if you asked me an open-ended question on whether I “favor” Rail to Dulles, shorn of any context regarding how much it costs, who will pay for it, or what the alternative uses of the money are, I would respond yes. I think it’s a great idea — in the abstract.
In other words, the poll was not designed to plumb the complexities and nuances of public opinion, but to create a impression, possibly misleading, that overwhelming public support for the project exists. It was what I call a propaganda poll.
Here are questions that might have elicited quite a different response:
- The latest cost estimate for extending Metro heavy rail through Tysons Corner and Dulles Airport is $5 billion. Do still you “favor” the project?
- Do you think $5 billion would alleviate more traffic congestion in Northern Virginia if it were spent in other ways, such as Bus Rapid Transit, traffic light synchronization or spot improvements to local roadway bottlenecks?
- More than half the cost of the Rail-to-Dulles project would be paid by users of the Dulles Toll Road, even though they were promised the tolls would be lifted by now. Is it fair that people not using the Metro are forced to pay for it?
- The primary beneficiaries of Rail-to-Dulles are wealthy property owners whose land adjoins planned Metro stations, but they’re contributing only a small fraction of the construction costs. Do you think they should pay a bigger share?
Garbage in, garbage out.