dog whistle effect
n.— «About 15 percent more people were “very happy” when the alternative was being merely “fairly happy.” Maybe they were really that happy, or maybe the pollsters offered them unacceptable choices. Anyway, researchers call this the “Dog Whistle Effect”: Respondents hear something in the question that researchers do not.» —“Behind the Numbers: Confessions Of a Pollster” by Richard Morin Washington Post Oct. 16, 1988. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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