Thanks Rascal....interesting link. I think that unless the "poll" is actually commissioned by some entity, then we have to assume it is a "question of the day" peopled by many people, several of them, many times, as there seems to be no limit on casting your "vote"....Vote early and often as the saying goes.
As far as the other "polls" are concerned...maybe all of us should act as if we were journalists. Someone here yesterday suggested that the "job of the journalist is to be an antagonist"...(I don't agree with that BTW)...BUT I do think all of us, if we are going to pay any attention to any polls, must ask the important questions.
Who were the people sampled,how many were sampled, what criteria was the sampling as far as education, location, citizen or not, voter or not, etc.
http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/kb/sampstat.htm
I have to assume that the polls being bandied about which pass for democracy today are in compliance with the protocols for good research. (Maybe I am naive!)
Usually, if it is just one of those "question-of-the-day"
polls they state "This is not a scientific study". |
