Rasmussen Reports has just issued the results of a poll on race relations that finds that 49% of surveyed U.S. voters believe race relations between white and Hispanic Americans are getting worse. But who were they asking, and in what language?

We’ve already raised some questions about Rasmussen’s methodology, but when it came to this particular issue, there only seemed to be one relevant query:

What language/s was the survey set in?

We contacted Rasmussen, and the answer was very short: English.

Automated phone polling is already a blunt enough tool to truly gauge the public mood: But throw in the language component, especially in a country with a large, growing and voting English as a Second Language population, and the merits of monolingual polling seem slimmer and slimmer.

This article appears in April 23 • 2010.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.