Thursday, January 11, 2007

Misleading headlines...

I know, I know, supposedly these pollsters are such experts that they can take a group of people and transition this into "valid numbers". Yet everytime I read a headline such as Poll: Most Americans Opposed to Bush's Iraq Plan and I read the beginning paragraph:

A majority of Americans oppose sending additional troops to Iraq as outlined by President Bush in his nationally televised address Wednesday night, and just one-in-three Americans said the plan for more troops and a stepped up combat efforts by Iraqi forces make victory there more likely, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Then, I scroll all the way down thru the whole article looking for how many people participated in the poll, to be able to gauge the chances of how valid this poll really is. This one?

This Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted by telephone Jan. 10, among a random national sample of 502 adults. The results have a 4.5-point error margin.


So, the majority of 502 people who answered their phone that night oppose sending additional troops to Iraq. Perhaps a true majority of Americans really do feel that way but, just like many question Global Warming? I really question the validity of 502 people equally "A Majority of Americans".

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I hate spammers...However because I'm in such a "fun mood" today, This is the message I left at our little buddy zl441x's blog:

Seriously, if you were that good at making money on the web you would not be going around and spamming comments on topics that had nothing to do with making money. Also, if you really can make $5,000 a week while you are on a free blog spot is pretty telling.

Spammers suck, and anyone who spams blogs is a Loser with a capital "L".

Scott G said...

I have never been a fan of polls because it is hard to do them with great accuracy, but they can sway the opinion of some people. I think that most Americans do disagree with Bush, but I have no idea what the numbers are. All I know for sure is that 100% of me thinks the President let another opportunity to be a bigger person go by

Unknown said...

People I talk to are divided, some think the time for more troops has passed and no matter what is done it's not going to work, some just want the troops home no matter what and some hope that the Iraqi government will step up and do what was promised.

Scott G said...

I fall into all 3 of those categories. We should have done it right in the first place instead of waiting until now. It is easier to put out a fire when it is first sparked than it is after it has been burning for a while. The only thing I can see making this work is the Iraqi government stepping up and acting like they want to take control. What I fear is the government cracking down on death squads and causing then to unite against us and the Iraqi forces. Kind of like when we lost the support of large portions of South Vietnamese people during Vietnam.

Hooda Thunkit (Dave Zawodny) said...

Hey, if it makes their case (and gets them paid), it's a valid poll.

The cynic in me is crying out, HAH!

Wattacrockashit...