In Reporting Polls, Please …

Byhenry September 27, 2012

… always consider the sampling error when you report the difference between successive polls.

News organizations have been getting some better, in my subjective view, in noting when a result is within the sampling error in a particular poll, but they still report increases or decreases in a lead without that note. If a candidate moves from 46% to 48% in successive polls where the margin is +/-4%, that is not a statistically significant change. If multiple polls show results that are all within their various sampling errors, the polls are not scattered all over the map or giving a different story.

I also wish new stories would define the various terms they use to modify “lead” or “trail.” One has no idea from the headline just what has happened.

OK, that’s my whining for the moment. 🙂

Diversity | Politics

Courtesy Is not just for the Other Person

Byhenry August 12, 2016

Probably as the result of the political correctness debate—well, perhaps not debate; more brouhaha—I hear or read frequent complaints about an expectation of courteous speech as though it’s an imposition. In order to cater to someone’s excessively fragile sensibilities, the argument goes, one is expected to deny the truth in favor of “political correctness.” In…

Politics

Iraq:What Now for Mixed Shia – Sunni Families – MSNBC.com

Byhenry March 5, 2006

In an article subtitled Love in a Time of Madness Newsweek (via MSNBC.com) calls our attention to the human side of the conflict in Iraq. It’s easy to become tied up with strategic goals such as how we prevent terrorism, how we can get out of Iraq and still at least feel that we accomplished…

Freedom of Speech Rights Tangled

Byhenry March 13, 2007

Here’s an interesting freedom of speech issue again brought to my attention by Breaking Christian News and this time referring me to this LifeSite article. It appears that at a minimum there is confusion about the facts of the case, including the professor’s intentions and when the paper was graded, as comparison of the LifeSite…

Politics

The Search for Ideological Perfection

Byhenry July 19, 2006

The Washington Post has a story about conservative intellectuals who are becoming infuriated with what they see as inaction in recent foreign policy decisions by the Bush administration. In the article, Bush faces backlash on the right, they quote a number of people in this category, but this one summarizes it: “It is Topic A…

2008 U. S. Presidential Election | Energion.com | Politics

Robert Reich on Offshore Exploration

Byhenry June 19, 2008

One of my disappointments in John McCain is the amount of pandering he has done to various people. I regard his vacation from gas taxes as simple pandering. It solves no problems. It potentially creates many more. The only reason to favor it is that some people who don’t think beyond the next paycheck. Now…

Ethics | Politics

Update on the Kentucky Gubernatorial Primary

Byhenry May 25, 2007

Well, Fletcher did it. With 50% of the vote to his main opponent’s 37% (Source: CQPolitics.com) he became the Republican nominee. I find it interesting that Bush’s approval rating is lower than Fletcher’s (38%), and Fletcher was indicted while in office. Yes, I know there’s the unpopular war in Iraq, but then one also has…