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Brexit: Yet another example of biased polling
American Thinker ^ | June 25, 2016 | Sierra Rayne

Posted on 06/25/2016 8:05:31 AM PDT by detective

For the weak-minded among us who continue to believe in polling data, the Brexit vote shows – yet again – what a biased absurdity the polls have become.

But delusions and obfuscation runs deep in the mainstream trenches.

Nate Cohn at the New York Times writes that "[i]t was not a cataclysmic polling failure[.] ... [I]t's hard to argue that this was a big polling failure."

Sure it wasn't. Once you are done rolling around on the floor in laughter at claims that this wasn't a massive polling failure, read on.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; Politics/Elections; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: biases; brexit; polling
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Polls conducted for public consumption are usually biased and unreliable.

This is a good analysis of the biased polls in the UK prior to the Brexit vote.

1 posted on 06/25/2016 8:05:31 AM PDT by detective
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To: detective

I don’t know how you do polling in a world where no one answers their phone.


2 posted on 06/25/2016 8:08:36 AM PDT by marron
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To: detective

American Thinker has been debunking poll after poll all of June - they demonstrate time and again the absurdity of reported results. Nice work they’re doing.


3 posted on 06/25/2016 8:10:41 AM PDT by major-pelham
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To: detective

Clinton up by 14 points , Oh they work , LOL


4 posted on 06/25/2016 8:11:12 AM PDT by butlerweave
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To: detective

Polling is designed to Shape opinions not measure them.


5 posted on 06/25/2016 8:17:52 AM PDT by eyeamok (destruction of government records.)
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To: detective

“... the Brexit side won by 4%, 52% to 48%.

“Not a single one of the well known polling aggregators/predictors picked Brexit in their last-minute final projections.

“Elections Etc. had the Remain side up by 6.6%, 53.3% to 46.7%.
Number Cruncher Politics had the Remain side up by 6%, 53% to 47%.
What UK Thinks: EU had the Remain side up by 4%, 52% to 48%.
The Financial Times had the Remain side up by 2%, 48% to 46%.
Britain Elects had the Remain side up by 1.6%, 50.8% to 49.2%.
HuffPost Pollster had the Remain side up by 0.5%, 45.8% to 45.3%.
The Economist’s poll tracker had the race tied at 44% apiece...”


6 posted on 06/25/2016 8:18:23 AM PDT by concentric circles
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To: detective

We are at a point where polling is a tool used to shape public opinion, not measure it.


7 posted on 06/25/2016 8:18:31 AM PDT by GenXteacher (You have chosen dishonor to avoid war; you shall have war also.)
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To: detective

Polls = Propoganda


8 posted on 06/25/2016 8:23:50 AM PDT by Trentamj
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To: detective

That is because they were not supposed to. They were commissioned to drive the preferred narrative.

He who commissions a poll can also commission a desired outcome.

The purpose of these polls was to try to persuade the general voters to jump on board the 'victory' bandwagon -- REMAIN -- because the other bandwagon -- LEAVE -- is a loser.

We are having the exact same things with all of the pre-convention presidential polls in the US.


9 posted on 06/25/2016 8:23:56 AM PDT by TomGuy
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To: detective; ExTexasRedhead

“The polls were wrong because the polling industry collectively and deliberately and cynically manipulated its own findings. In other words, the pollsters lied to us all...”

This is why your personal observations are a far better indicator of direction. When Trump has tens of thousands at his rallies and Hillary has to use tight-focus cameras to mask the fact that there are few at hers, then the polls say “she is ahead,” you have to question their accuracy (or more likely honesty).


10 posted on 06/25/2016 8:25:29 AM PDT by vette6387
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To: GenXteacher

That’s the truth. But I believe that it backfires: people who like the result get complacent and don’t vote, but those on the losing side get more motivated to do so.


11 posted on 06/25/2016 8:26:07 AM PDT by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt)
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To: eyeamok

Exactly. While I wouldn’t want to paint with a broad brush and say that all polls are totally fake, I will say that I never pay attention to any polls at all.

I think that phone calls are made, people on sidewalks are questioned, work is done, numbers are tabulated, and THEN the poll people publish the numbers that they prepared before any of that started — the numbers that are designed to push public opinion is a designated direction: “Oh look! 68% of the people trust Hillary on national security issues! I guess that email server thing really IS a rightwing conspiracy!! Now I know how I feel on that issue!”


12 posted on 06/25/2016 8:30:13 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The official language of the United States should be Arabic. It's clear that our government is.)
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To: detective

Actually I think the polls were accurate in this case.

They showed it to be razor close with most analysts figuring large turnout would favor Brexit which is what happened.

For an anomaly one needs to look no further than the recent primary in CA. There Bernie was significantly ahead but he got pounded.

What happened?

Fraud.

Which should give Trump and everyone else some concerns about the upcoming election.


13 posted on 06/25/2016 8:46:51 AM PDT by ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton (Go Egypt on 0bama)
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To: GenXteacher

Yup!


14 posted on 06/25/2016 8:49:54 AM PDT by Flick Lives (One should not attend even the end of the world without a good breakfast. -- Heinlein)
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To: ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton

Some of the polls did show it to be close, but even the closest only had the thing tied. The furthest out picked stay by 6.6—a miss of over ten points. The average miss was 7 points—I don’t think that turnout alone explains it.


15 posted on 06/25/2016 8:58:13 AM PDT by Hieronymus ( (It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged. --G. K. Chesterton))
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To: detective

I guess it always depends on who is being polled.

They’ll get another shot at it.
Like always, they will have another referendum and another etc...until the vote they need is gotten.


16 posted on 06/25/2016 9:02:09 AM PDT by stylin19a
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To: Trentamj

I have always said that any poll conducted prior to the second Tuesday every other November is nothing more than a fund raising device for one side or the other.

My biggest take away from the 2000 Presidential election was the Democratic Party’s attempt to over turn the ONLY poll that counts. Well, that and the loss of the equal protection clause of the Constitution - I live in one of the non-selected counties with a significant conservative population.


17 posted on 06/25/2016 9:03:20 AM PDT by Nip (BOHEICA and TANSTAAFL - both seem very appropriate today.)
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To: detective

These “polls” are not designed to reflect public opinion but rather to shape public opinion.


18 posted on 06/25/2016 9:04:21 AM PDT by upsdriver (I support Sarah Palin.)
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To: detective

The great frauds of recent history

guns

2K

global warming

Obama was vetted as a presidential candidate

I’m not a muslim

Brexit will bring the apocalypse


19 posted on 06/25/2016 9:05:12 AM PDT by morphing libertarian (Trump's innuendo a new low)
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To: morphing libertarian

You left out the Clinton Foundation.


20 posted on 06/25/2016 9:09:19 AM PDT by TomGuy
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