H ERE’S a dumb ques tion: what’s behind the success of the new hit game show “Power of 10“?
Answer: The questions.
What percentage of Americans think Mormons should be allowed to practice polygamy as a freedom of religion?
Answer: 29 percent.
Or what percentage of Americans said they’ve broken up with the same romantic partner more than once?
Answer: 31 percent.
The charm of host Drew Carey carried the game show into the top 10 this past summer – but it is the charm of those sweetly formed questions on subjects ranging from politics to pop culture that have viewers coming back.
“We lack a political correctness,” says “Power of 10” executive producer Michael Davies, extolling his theory of why the show works.
“We’re using scientific polling techniques to ask questions that national pollsters would never normally ask.”
While most pollsters want to find out President Bush’s popularity, “Power of 10” wants to find out if you think you’re smarter than he is (according to the poll, 60 percent do).
Contestants have to guess how Americans responded to a series of provocative questions. Each time a contestant gets a question correct, the prize amount increases by a power of 10 (hence the name).
Every question has been answered by a sample of at least 1,000 people, Davies says – though they have to contact around 50,000 to get that many.
Over the course of the 12 episodes shot for this season, approximately 240 questions have been used, “and for that 240, we’ve written upwards of 4,000 questions – maybe even more than that,” Davies says. “There’s a high kill ratio.”
Questions are thrown out for a number of reasons, from being too complex to boil down for a game show question to results that are too easy to predict, according to Davies
And some answers are simply too depressing.
“If someone gets a question about the percentage of people with a disease correct, it’s not a nice moment,” Davies says.
The firm that conducts “Power of 10’s” polls, the nationally respected Rasmussen Reports, calls a random group of people.
It uses an automated calling system to pose the questions and record responses. That way, they avoid altering an embarrassing answer.
Respondents are asked to respond by pushing either 1 or 2 on their telephone keypad so people in the same room won’t hear the answers.
Davies says “Power” does this to maintain the believability of the results, but that still doesn’t guarantee a completely honest outcome.
For a question about how many people would call the police if they saw an illegal immigrant crossing the border (69 percent say they would), Davies notes that number seemed high.
But that part of the fun is guessing what people will say they’ll do as opposed to what they would actually do.
“We can’t read people’s minds and hearts,” Davies says. “We’re not God.”