Apr 22, 2010

Margin of error

I wouldn't want anyone to misunderstand. I stand with Ed Newman on the subject of polls. We do too damned much polling. We ask idiotic questions of ignorant persons.* We hire the best flacks we can afford to spin any survey result into a self-satisfying version of truth.**

But a giggler over at WND, proves they can be fun, especially if you happen to be a cynical Obama skeptic.

The Zogby poll reports Obama would lose an election held today. Among the sub-results:

People who pay federal income tax would vote for someone else 53-40.

People who do not pay tax prefer Obama 49-42.

Gun owners would vote for someone else, 68-26

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*Miss Hilton do you consider it likely or unlikely that CERN will identify a Higgs boson?

**Therefore President Barack Obama is the choice of unarmed hippy diaper dampeners on welfare.

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Ed Newman summed up his views with: "Ask not to know on whom the poll palls; it palls on me."


1 comment:

TJP said...

Excessive polling is only necessary because of general fund, fuzzy accounting in government. It used to be that a particular purpose was established, a cost estimate was made, and a tax was levied to finance a project. It's pretty simple to guess the mood of the electorate when a project is a disaster.

My question is this: Is there any difference between taxation without representation, and taxation without purpose? Congress isn't so much exercising a power to tax to the ends of its constitutional duties as it is extorting an allowance to use at its sole discretion.