Polls
Just in case you may wonder why I hate and distrust polls, read this classic from October 1998. It's my favorite example -- I may have mentioned it before -- of poor polling.
It's two years before the Presidential election and the first question is "who would you vote for, Bush or Gore?" The next two questions are "which Democrat/Republican do you prefer?" So they have already not only picked who they think are the frontrunners, two years before the election, but they say that up front, therefore predisposing respondents to pick those candidates in the later questions.
And this isn't some rinky-dink polling outfit, it's Gallup. (OK, maybe it is a rinky-dink polling outfit.)
Social Science Barbie says: Polling is HARD!
It's two years before the Presidential election and the first question is "who would you vote for, Bush or Gore?" The next two questions are "which Democrat/Republican do you prefer?" So they have already not only picked who they think are the frontrunners, two years before the election, but they say that up front, therefore predisposing respondents to pick those candidates in the later questions.
And this isn't some rinky-dink polling outfit, it's Gallup. (OK, maybe it is a rinky-dink polling outfit.)
Social Science Barbie says: Polling is HARD!
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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