We have an answer to the question of Joseph Farah’s mysterious poll.
Earlier, we wrote about how Farah used his WorldNetDaily column to promote a poll result claiming that “our greatest hope for the future of this nation” is a “Return to traditional moral values,” but Farah curiously failed to explain where the poll came from, though he insisted on calling it “a scientific public opinion survey.”
Alert ConWebWatch readers pointed us in the direction of a new book called “Beyond a House Divided: The Moral Consensus Ignored by Washington, Wall Street and the Media” by Carl Anderson. Indeed, Farah touts the book in his column as something that could set straight “the elitists who report the news, make our movies and TV shows, sell us goods, make our laws and teach our children,” and WND’s store is selling the book.
Anderson is the supreme knight of the Catholic fraternal group Knights of Columbus, and a series of polls paid for by the K of C and conducted by Marist College apparently forms the basis for the book.
The website for Anderson’s book lists several of these polls — but not the one Farah is referring to. Further, the Marist poll blog of items tagged “Knights of Columbus” makes no reference to this particular poll.
Marist generally has a good reputation for accuracy, but the K of C is an organization with an agenda, which raises concerns about the poll’s balance. Since we don’t have a copy of Anderson’s book — which apparently is the only place to find this particular poll — we have to reserve judgment on it until we get more information.