What Binary Questions Get Wrong About Voters

Are Americans really polarized along party lines? Today, we discuss a new paper from our co-host Anthony Fowler, about one of the most common tools researchers use to measure public opinion: simple yes-or-no survey questions. Most political surveys ask people to choose between two options—support or oppose, yes or no. But Fowler’s research shows that these binary questions can hide important nuance in how people actually think about policy. When researchers analyze these responses, it can make voters appear more polarized—or more ideologically inconsistent—than they really are. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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What Binary Questions Get Wrong About Voters is an episode from Not Another Politics Podcast by University of Chicago Podcast Network.

This episode is 00:38:43 long.

This episode was published on Mar 12, 2026.

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