美国国家公共电台 NPR Opinion: Why The Pool Poll Should Give Us Pause

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The next time anyone reports the results of a poll or survey, even us, remember - a new survey says 51% of the adults in America splash around in swimming pools instead of showering or bathing. Further results get even yuckier. Forty percent of Americans confessed that they - how to put this delicately - have voided in pools. Experts warn the resulting effluence reduces the antiseptic potency¹ of the chlorine.

Dr. Chris Wiant, chair of the Water Quality and Health Council, says when dirt, sweat, personal care products and other things on our bodies react with chlorine, there is less chlorine available to kill germs. Further survey results grow even ickier. The Sachs Media Group conducted the survey of 3,100 people online. I think I would be reluctant to shake any of their hands. The survey reassures² people they can check pools in which they're about to paddle with test strips, thoughtfully available at no cost from a water quality and health council website, to see if they're adequately chlorinated.

Now, a survey like this sounds compelling, doesn't it? It might spare millions of Americans from immersing themselves, head to toe, in feculence and exudation³. But Jessica Huseman, the reporter for ProPublica and adjunct professor at the Columbia Journalism⁴ School, says that although at least seven national news sites reported this story as some kind of revelation - "Woodward And Bernstein Go Swimming And What They Found Will Shock You" - she discovered by just a few quick clicks that the Water Quality and Health Council is sponsored by the chlorine chemistry division of the American Chemistry Council. That's a trade group for the chlorine industry. The chlorine industry must be as concerned about the rise of saltwater pools, which use less chlorine, as gas companies are about electric cars or the Yankees are about the Red Sox.

You might recall this survey about America's showering choices when you see another poll on urgent issues - immigration, abortion⁵, guns, especially if they're promoted by advocacy groups. Questions can be phrased in ways to tilt⁶ results the way a group wants. But professional pollsters who work with news organizations have an interest in offering surveys that illuminate⁷ the range of diverging⁸ views people can hold in a huge and varied⁹ country regardless of results. In the meantime, everybody into the pool.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SPLISH SPLASH")

BOBBY DARIN: (Singing) Splish, splash, I was taking a bath, long about a Saturday night, yeah, a rub dub¹⁰ just relaxing in the tub, thinking everything was all right. Well, I stepped out the tub and put my feet on the floor. I wrapped a towel around me, and I opened the door. And then a splish, splash, I jump back in the bath. Well, how was I to know there was a party going on? There was a-splishing and a-splashing, reeling with the feeling, moving and a-grooving, rocking and a-rolling. Yeah. Yeah.