A few days ago, I discussed how a new Los Angeles Times / University of Southern California poll was designed to mislead. It not only presented a false choice about immigration, but it made one question deliberately unworkable (denying "emergency room treatment" to illegal aliens) in order to force people to choose one of the other, more amnesty-friendly options.

Now, [1] Dan Schnur of USC takes to the pages of the Los Angeles Times and misleads about the already-misleading poll ("A sea change in attitudes toward illegal immigration?", link, bolding added):

In 1994, Proposition 187 passed with almost 60% of the vote, and polling done by both political parties during subsequent election campaigns has suggested that the state's electorate would continue to support measures to deny a broad range of social services to illegal immigrants. Our new poll, however, found that California voters today are almost evenly divided on the question. Forty-five percent of respondents still support the denial of services -- including public schooling and healthcare to illegal immigrants -- but 47% oppose the idea. This represents a marked shift in public opinion with ramifications for both state and national politics and policy reform efforts.

The poll didn't just ask about "healthcare"; it asked about "any taxpayer funded social services, including emergency room treatment..." That's a much more extreme position than denying non-emergency healthcare, and Dan Schnoor isn't honest enough to reveal it to his readers.

Further, the LAT/USC polling partnership only began in November of last year (link), and the only instances of the emergency treatment question that I can find are for this latest poll. When other polling organizations discuss trends, they do it based on having asked the same exact questions year after year.

Somehow, Daniel Schnur is able to divine a trend based on the data from just one poll.

[1] Per his bio at the LAT link above: "Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC, was communications director for Gov. Pete Wilson and an advisor to the 2000 presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. John McCain."