Commitment consistency

The following explanation of "commitment consistency" is taken from the humorous political textbook "The Complete Yes Prime Minister".

Prime Minister James Hacker had been persuaded that reintroducing National Military Service was supported by "the Man In The Street" by an opinion poll conducted by his political party. Sir Humphrey Appleby wanted to persuade the Prime Minister against reintroducing such National Service.

Bernard Wooley recalls being taught by Sir Humphrey Appleby how to manipulate opinion polls using "commitment consistency" as follows:

"The secret is that when the Man In The Street is approached by a nice attractive young lady with a clipboard he is asked a series of questions. Naturally the Man In The Street wants to make a good impression and doesn't want to make a fool of himself. So the market researcher asks questions designed to elicit consistent answers.

Humphrey demonstrated the system [that had been used for the Poll conducted by the Party] on me. "Mr Woolley, are you worried about the rise in crime among teenagers?"

"Yes," I said.

"Do you think there is a lack of discipline and vigorous training in our Comprehensive Schools?"

"Yes."

"Do you think young people welcome some structure and leadership in their lives?"

"Yes."

"Do they respond to a challenges?"

"Yes."

"Might you be in favour of reintroducing National Service?"

"Yes."

Well, naturally I said yes. One could hardly have said anything else without looking inconsistent. Then what happens is that the Opinion Poll publishes only the last question and answer.

But of course, the reputable polls didn't conduct themselves like that. But there weren't too many of those. Humphrey suggested that we commission a new survey, not for the Party but for the Ministry of Defence. We did so. He invented the questions there and then: '

"Mr Woolley, are you worried about the danger of war?"

"Yes," I said, quite honestly.

"Are you unhappy about the growth of armaments?"

"Yes."

"Do you think there is a danger in giving young people guns and teaching them how to kill?"

"Yes."

"Do you think it wrong to force people to take up arms against their will?"

"Yes."

"Would you oppose the reintroduction of National Service?"

I'd said "Yes" before I'd even realised it, d'you see?

Humphrey was crowing with delight. "You see, Bernard," he said to me "you're the perfect Balanced Sample.""
- Lynn and Jay (1987)

From left to right Nigel Hawthorne as Sir Humphrey Appleby, Paul Eddington as Prime Minister James Hacker and Derek Fowlds as Bernard Wooley in the BBC tv series Yes Prime Minister. Photograph by Don Smith

Lynn J, Jay A. The complete Yes Prime Minister. London. BBC Books. 1987