Good Poll-Reading Advice from FiveThirtyEight.com
Here.
There’s nothing quite so annoying as hearing people spin the polls.
Chuck Baldwin maintains that the birth of our Savior and the birth of our nation are closely linked. I’m afraid I don’t get it, even allowing all his facts, some of which I would dispute. I just don’t see the parallel between the guns of the revolution and the Babe of Bethlehem emptying himself of…
One of the interesting things about commentary on the war is that though Laura of Pursuing Holiness and I disagree almost completely on the war in Iraq, we can agree that the press has done a miserable job of reporting it. In addition, we can agree that the press tends to combine incompetence and arrogance…
. . . or how to lie with headlines. I get very annoyed with the reporting of polls. One way to create news is to incorrectly headline or even incorrectly describe polling data. For example, CNN uses the headline Poll: Romney & Gingrich Tied for Top Spot in reporting on the latest USA Today/Gallup poll…
CBS is reporting on a school that has children singing songs about President Obama’s accomplishments. I note that the story compares the reaction to this to the reaction to Obama giving a speech. I thought the speech reaction was way overblown. The president of the United States should be able to address the nation, and…
In Preserving Democracy, Elgin Hushbeck quotes Alexander Fraser Tytler: A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public…
Immediately after the last election I wrote this. Please read it before you read this. I want to reiterate it today. I have meant it sincerely following every election in which I have been a voter, and I registered to vote at the first opportunity. Speaking with respect is not agreement. It is a way…
Chuck Baldwin maintains that the birth of our Savior and the birth of our nation are closely linked. I’m afraid I don’t get it, even allowing all his facts, some of which I would dispute. I just don’t see the parallel between the guns of the revolution and the Babe of Bethlehem emptying himself of…
One of the interesting things about commentary on the war is that though Laura of Pursuing Holiness and I disagree almost completely on the war in Iraq, we can agree that the press has done a miserable job of reporting it. In addition, we can agree that the press tends to combine incompetence and arrogance…
. . . or how to lie with headlines. I get very annoyed with the reporting of polls. One way to create news is to incorrectly headline or even incorrectly describe polling data. For example, CNN uses the headline Poll: Romney & Gingrich Tied for Top Spot in reporting on the latest USA Today/Gallup poll…
CBS is reporting on a school that has children singing songs about President Obama’s accomplishments. I note that the story compares the reaction to this to the reaction to Obama giving a speech. I thought the speech reaction was way overblown. The president of the United States should be able to address the nation, and…
In Preserving Democracy, Elgin Hushbeck quotes Alexander Fraser Tytler: A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public…
Immediately after the last election I wrote this. Please read it before you read this. I want to reiterate it today. I have meant it sincerely following every election in which I have been a voter, and I registered to vote at the first opportunity. Speaking with respect is not agreement. It is a way…
Chuck Baldwin maintains that the birth of our Savior and the birth of our nation are closely linked. I’m afraid I don’t get it, even allowing all his facts, some of which I would dispute. I just don’t see the parallel between the guns of the revolution and the Babe of Bethlehem emptying himself of…
One of the interesting things about commentary on the war is that though Laura of Pursuing Holiness and I disagree almost completely on the war in Iraq, we can agree that the press has done a miserable job of reporting it. In addition, we can agree that the press tends to combine incompetence and arrogance…