Based on what you have read or heard about this incident, do you think the police should or should not arrest George Zimmerman for shooting Trayvon Martin?
Permit me to translate:
Based on rumor and speculation by people who have an agenda on either side, without regard to whether you've confirmed any facts, and without establishing what the applicable Florida law is, and even though you may not be a Florida resident in which case your views aren't supposed to be represented by the acts of Florida legislators anyway, what's your unfounded gut feeling about whether police should or should not arrest George Zimmerman for shooting Trayvon Martin?
Yeah. That's an important journalist function Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research performed, you betcha.
And CNN, before them.
I certainly don't mean that the opinion polls have any bearing WHATSOEVER on the truth of the incident. They reflect exactly what you proposed as an alternative question; media influence on perception of reality.
It'd be one thing if the perpetually-pissed and other assorted people would shrug off the reports as "maybe true, maybe not." But here we have the president, presidential candidates, a substantial number of congress people, about 99% of the political chattering class touting a false reality; and dragging a good chunk of the gullible public along for the ride.
And Zimmerman is getting a raw deal. Really raw. As is the public.