Which Statement?

You are doing a survey over the telephone and the pollster asks you the following question:

"Thinking about the next president that we will be electing, which of the following two statements comes closer to your point of view?
Statement A: A person who will bring major changes to the way government operates even if it is not possible to predict what the changes may be,
Or statement B: A person who will bring a steady approach to the way government operates even if it means fewer changes to how things are now."

If you are a conservative cattle rancher in Montana with six children and a significant amount of money invested in stocks in oil companies in Texas, which statement should you choose?

Answer:

None, since there is no statement that you can choose. Neither "Statement A" nor "Statement B" are actually statements. They are only phrases.

To clarify, Statement A, for example, doesn't say whether the respondent believes that the person who will bring major changes should be elected, should not be elected, should be impeached, should be exiled, or should be shot! If the "statements" started out, "I would prefer a person who will bring...", then they would actually be statements.

And, yes, this was a question on an actual survey.