Posted on 11/18/2005 12:00:42 PM PST by jamese777
I'm surprised at how obviously wrong you are, but I don't really know you.
So, it's reported that "75% favor status quo on abortion."
Will it make a difference as to the immpression that makes -- and thus the opinion-forming impact of that "story" -- if you learn that, OF that 75%, 87% think that abortion is only legal during the first three months?
So how many of this 51% know the first thing about why we're there, what we've accomplisehd, what is at stake, and how this measures up against previous military campaigns? Would that matter as to the opinion-forming impact of this statistic? Of course.
Think about it.
Dan
Well, 51%, I guess we pull out tomorrow. Good thinking.
what you said.
Maybe I misunderstood your original post. If you refer only to the perception of the poll results as having something to do with what is 'right' or 'wrong' or what people 'really' think, then yes it's misleading to give the same weight to one person polled as to another. Polls should not be used as some kind of evidence supporting a particular side in an argument. This is how some polls get used. In fact, in this respect there should really be no polls at all because there are just too many problems in any kind of weighting. It's best to just select a panel of informed 'experts' to listen to.
However, it is relevant to know what the distribution of opinion is in the general public. To what degree a poll accurately reflects this varies widely dependingn on how it's conducted and any poll watcher (politician) should know enough about the basic tricks used (as many on FR here know I think) to look at the polling process and discount the results accordingly.
Yes, thank you, I think you grasp my point now. I've been struggling for a better way to express this. I've said, slightly more than half-seriously, that opinion polls should be illegal within seven years of any given election. People actually give weight to polls that have no weight, and that's gut-wrenchingly awful.
Take the current situation. The lamestream media CONSTANTLY tell us how support for President Bush and the war have dropped. This is supposed to be deeply significant in itself. The presstitutes hound our leaders as to what they will do in light of failing support and shifting opinion. That is, it is ASSUMED that they should reverse policy ON THE BASIS OF these polls.
And I think the polls are, to a degree, self-generating. That is, if most people think most people think the war is failing, most people will think the war is failing.
Anyway, thanks for revisiting.
Dan
48% at least give him a fair mark and out of the 51% that say poor, 95% of them have never been in the military and wouldn't know military success if they saw it.
I got a call from some polling group the other day. They read me a statement and then said, "so, what do you think about this problem?" I said, "I would have to hear the other side before I could have an opinion." She hung up on me.
I have said as well for months that the non-defense of Bush and the GOP is a disservice to those in uniform.
Shucks, I already posted a "raving" on another post. I shoulda kept my jets cool for this one......oh well. :)
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