One wonders why pollsters bother

Last year, the Economist ran a comparison of British and American views on various subjects, comparing party affiliations and how much more "left-wing" the UK is than the US. It makes for interesting reading, provided you can keep your wits about you, as hacks typically make a mess of anything involving numbers.

The best bit, naturally, is the summary data, which show that the UK is far more favourable to free trade than the US, but the two are almost identical in their scepticism about free trade when it comes to labour and people, or immigration as it is more normally called. And then, there is this, which is the reason for my title.

Which explains the origin of the earth?
The theory of evolution.
The Bible.
"Intelligent design."

How in the name of all things holy is anyone meant to know how to answer that? "The theory of evolution" usually refers to Darwinism, a theory concerning the origin of species, not the earth. To say "The Bible" merely raises the question of what the pollster means by "explains": is this provides an explanation of the mechanism, or guides us to the ultimate, teleological explanation? And then to divorce "Intelligent design" from "The Bible" puts Christians who are ID-friendly in a bit of a bind, since they would wish to answer, "Both."

The question is so badly posed, it can only be answered by someone who does not have the remotest understanding of the issue—I note in passing that 60% of Britons answered "evolution", indicating that 60% of Britons have not twigged that evolution is about life and not rocks. In fact, I rather think it must have been set by someone who does not understand what they are asking. So, why do pollsters bother?