Surveys and Emotional Capture

John Cutter: Am I supposed to trust you?
Charles Rane: Trust your instincts.
John Cutter: My instincts are to wax your ass all over this floor.
Charles Rane: Those are your emotions acting without the benefit of intellect.
--Passenger 57

As these pages have previously noted, few events stimulate emotional capture more than mass school shootings. Politicians know it.

So do their media lackeys, particularly those who make it a habit of surveying people about their views on gun violence just after a mass shooting, and then report huge increases in percentages of people who favor increased gun control measures. Example here.

What they won't report is that such surveys always show spikes higher immediately following a mass shooting event. In fact, any poll taken in the wake of a tragedy is prone to indicate that more people are willing to cede liberty to government in the name of security.

Then, as time unfolds and people gather their wits, the survey numbers recede as emotions wane and reasoning processes are re-engaged.