Harris Poll and Embryonic Stem Cell Research

The Harris Poll I referenced in the last post also shows wide support for embryonic stem cell research, 57-19 percent. I think the support is about right, but the opposition is too low. The reason for this (in my view) inaccuracy is that the question is misleading. The ESCR debate is not about whether it should or should not be permitted. Rather, at least in its most pervasive debate, the fight is about President Bush’s restrictions on federal funding. There are those (and I know people like this) who support the research but oppose forcing taxpayers to pay for it.

Besides, the real crux of the issue isn’t ESCR per se, but rather, whether we should permit human cloning. I wish Harris would ask whether people support or oppose the making of human embryos through cloning for, among many potential uses, destruction and research on their stem cells. In every poll I have seen on that question, the majority is in opposition to human somatic cell nuclear transfer, which is precisely why the pro-cloners work so hard to convince people that cloning isn’t really cloning.

Harris should change the first stem cell question to get a more accurate take on what people think about the actual controversy, and add a query about the second, because that is where most of the future political fight will be centered.
Not that the pollsters asked for my advice…