Grey Areas: the Problem with Polls
What is your sexual orientation? What is your gender? How about your race? Mother’s name? Father’s name? Do you have both a mother and a father? What is your home address? Zip code? Are you a U.S. citizen?
How many times have you seen these questions on a form and have been unable to completely elaborate on them, restricted to multiple-choice?
How many times have you questioned why you even have to answer some of them?
As for race, over 9 million Americans identify as multiracial, and they are growing at a rate three times faster than the population as a whole- this doesn’t even include Americans who are of multiple races but only identify with a single one. Of these people, there is a myriad of what their racial background can entail. Some people are black and Asian, black and Hispanic, white and Hispanic, Indigenous and black, and so many other combinations that don’t even specify ethnicities. Is it really accurate or fair to lump them all into a single category of “mixed race” when there is such a multitude and range of options when it comes to what that actually contains?
What about sexual orientation or gender? People who identified as straight at one time in their life may realize they are really a lesbian later. Someone who once identified as a gay man may now identify as bisexual and nonbinary. Some people just don’t know and continue to question their own sexual orientation and identity. Many will also lie about their sexual orientation or gender to prevent their families from discovering it, or simply so they have a better chance at succeeding in what the poll is specifically for.
While the 2020 census is being altered in order to better suit those of mixed races or grey identity, many forms- including college applications- do not. Many people are understandably wary of being honest about certain aspects of their identity and living situation because it gives the group issuing the poll information that could be used against them. There have been many reports and accusations of companies throwing away job applications because an applicant marked off something other than “straight” or “cisgender” on a form that is thinly veiled as an attempt to be progressive- but really, it is an insidious way to find a specific kind of worker or avoid accommodating people based on their minority. There have also been reports of companies throwing out forms where an applicant said their form of transportation to work would be via bus or walking, or if they said they had no home address. This shows how something supposedly meant to promote diversity could be used against minorities.
What about people who don’t even want to be given an opportunity based on their status as a minority? Many minorities find the practice of taking their status into consideration when awarding them with some sort of achievement condescending. So even with pure intentions, are minorities unintentionally being discredited because they are being accepted due to arbitrary factors and not skill?
What can be done to better fix this? It doesn’t seem like there really is an easy solution other than removing such questions altogether, and therefore removing any statistical analysis across different races, orientations, genders, and living situations. However, this would mean removing information that could be used to better assist these same people. That brings up another question- do we even need such statistics to prevent discrimination?
In modern America, people are extremely untrusting of the government- rightfully so. It is, after all, the job of the people to keep the government functioning and to reduce corruption in the best way they can.
Some groups who view this as an issue may choose to follow in the footsteps of the national census. Some may remove the questions altogether. It seems to be, at the end of the day, all a matter of where we put our trust and our intentions.
