Question

Defense of Marriage Act Both of the following questions are essentially the same. Does the difference in wording seem as though it could affect the way that people respond?

• Are you in favor of the “Defense of Marriage Act”?

• Are you in favor of an act that for federal and state aid, only heterosexual marriages should be recognized?

Short answer

Yes, the wordings would affect the responses to the questions.

Step-by-step solution

Given information

Two questions on the marriage act are framed as follows:

Question 1: Are you in favor of the “Defense of Marriage Act”?

Question 2: Are you in favor of an act that for federal and state aid, only heterosexual marriages should be recognized?

Step 2:Analyzing the questions by words

Question 1 is a straightforward questionasking for responses on the Defense of Marriage Act. In this question, it is highly likely that the people would respond in favor of the question; that is, “yes.” This is because it is likely that respondents would answer considering the general perception of the marriage act without analyzing it much at the time of answering.

Question 2 is an elaborate question that expresses the idea of the Marriage Act and its core fundamentals. Here, there are chances that the respondents would analyze and then respond to the question. Consequently, the chances of getting varying responses are high.

Thus, the change in wordings would affect the responses.