Univision, a liberal immigration PAC with a broadcast license seeking FCC approval of a rule that would allow the network to be 100% foreign-owned, appears to ask the most interesting questions of those brave enough to pick up the phone and answer a poll.
Behold the glory that is Question 42 of the latest Univision/Latino Decisions/NorthStar Opinion Research poll: “Over the past few months, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, have *YOU* or someone else in your household died because of coronavirus?
As some have suggested tongue-in-cheek, it is only fair that Univision and the Biden campaign (which Politico reported as hiring Latino Decisions back in June) poll the dead prior to turning them out to vote. But this invariably leads to other questions. What is the breakdown of dead respondents by country of origin? Were deceased respondents also oversampled in Florida, Arizona, and Texas? Were the deceased respondents excluded from the remainder of the survey upon answering the COVID question, or were they also allowed to weigh in on such matters as the current Supreme Court vacancy and on the overall reliability of absentee voting?
The poll is a major outlier when compared to other polls of Hispanics leading up to the election, and others may pick the poll apart on some of these other bases. On a more serious note, though, I do want to draw your attention, dead people question notwithstanding, to the huge red flag that is Question 32:
Q32. Currently, the U.S. government and private companies are working as quickly as possible to find a vaccine to the coronavirus. Some people say [the vaccine is being rushed and not properly tested which could backfire] while other people say [getting the vaccine out as fast as possible can bring the pandemic to an end and save lives].
69% of respondents nationally agreed that "The vaccine is being rushed out and not properly tested which could backfire". Only 31% agreed with the statement that "Getting the vaccine out as fast as possible can bring pandemic to an end". Spanish-language news media will not escape responsibility for its role in shaping an anti-vaccine attitude among its viewers, which many agree to be disproportionately affected by the pandemic. How many people will suffer, along with their loved ones and extended communities, as a result of the networks' Orange Man Bad reporting on the development of a potential vaccine?
The "are you dead" question is good for some laughs but such a mistrust of science as is reflected above, fueled largely by agenda-driven news reporting, is no laughing matter. Exit question: will these anti-vax attitudes make it into the next round of hand-wringing reports on "disinformation" within the Hispanic community?
