[Marat]

We discussed this some last night(over a bottle of southern comfort i might add) and myself and the guys i was talking to pretty generaly agree, if opinion polls speak for the whole country, why is it that i never get asked my opinion. none of the fifteen or twetny people in the room can come up with a single name of someone who has ever been polled on say presidential ratings. I know they generaly "sample" then use a formula to calculate ratings, but if they dont bother to recheck there variables the model is no longer valid.

[TineSeign]

In order for any poll to have even the smallest amount of validity is to have surveyed a huge number of people. a few hundred out of a given population of say several thousand really doesn't reflect the overal opinion of said population. Furthermore, polls can be manipulated so easily, for example, by asking specific people that you have a feeling will give you a particular answer or by wording the question in a way that would give a particular answer. I never trust polls that claim to represent an entire nation because there's no way you could take an accurate and unbiased poll on such a huge scale.

[FrassyLap]

We discussed this some last night(over a bottle of southern comfort i might add) and myself and the guys i was talking to pretty generaly agree, if opinion polls speak for the whole country, why is it that i never get asked my opinion. none of the fifteen or twetny people in the room can come up with a single name of someone who has ever been polled on say presidential ratings. I know they generaly "sample" then use a formula to calculate ratings, but if they dont bother to recheck there variables the model is no longer valid.

Take a class in Sampling Theory, all will be revealed.

[Enalsebeerkawl]

i know how sampling theory works(spent o weeks listening to a poli sci proffesor talk about it), but my point is, how are thye shure the varaibles they established years ago aer still valid.

[Jimambol]

i know how sampling theory works(spent o weeks listening to a poli sci proffesor talk about it), but my point is, how are thye shure the varaibles they established years ago aer still valid.

Huh? I think you might have taken one shot too many from that bottle of Southern Comfort.

[Buildityrit]

dumb keyboard misses letters everyonce in a while. What i menat was they assume that the formulas they came up with are right even after years......yet i cant beleive nothing has changed .........

[Zenunlild]

dumb keyboard misses letters everyonce in a while. What i menat was they assume that the formulas they came up with are right even after years......yet i cant beleive nothing has changed .........

It still brings the checque (or check) home, so why should they bother to revise it.

[cyslespitocop]

dumb keyboard misses letters everyonce in a while. What i menat was they assume that the formulas they came up with are right even after years......yet i cant beleive nothing has changed .........

Yeah, that nasty math, it changes all the time.

[StevenS]

the variables do.....

last time i checked...variables can definetly change

[MasTaBlau]

Well certainly who they poll is important, and how many, and all that jazz. But the math still works. It's the interpretation that's problematic. If I want to poll for opinions on the death penalty and take my 1000 person sample from suburban Seattle and then take another 1000 person sample from rural Texas, I'll bet there's different results and neither of them reflects the overall opinion of the US. But that doesn't invalidate the formulas they use. Garbage in, garbage out as we say.

[tramadolwithall]

I have always been of the mind that poli sci is about as much a science as Intelligent design. You can formulate the questions in such a way so as to come up with the answer you want and then your charts and graphs and bell curves all prove your point. Round and round and round in the circle game.

[xqkAY7Lg]

We discussed this some last night(over a bottle of southern comfort i might add) and myself and the guys i was talking to pretty generaly agree, if opinion polls speak for the whole country, why is it that i never get asked my opinion. none of the fifteen or twetny people in the room can come up with a single name of someone who has ever been polled on say presidential ratings. I know they generaly "sample" then use a formula to calculate ratings, but if they dont bother to recheck there variables the is no longer valid.

Opinion polls don't speak for the country. Everyone is aware of that. You and everyone else were not sober, and as such, babbling ensued.
Polls represent the views of those who took the poll. The results of polls don't have any clout, that's why they are just polls.

[Alice_Medichi34]

in my opinion, the state IS the people. We created it, it should mould for us, not in the opposite, the state needs to hear the whole people/well majority anyhow, otherwise you cant call the poll or what it is democratic.
THeres lots of opinions lost if you only ask like 20 persons.
You also need to check a large area, otherwise your poll will be EXTREMELY PARTIAL. protect the minoritys yall

[fluoxet]

in my opinion, the state IS the people. We created it, it should mould for us, not in the opposite, the state needs to hear the whole people/well majority anyhow, otherwise you cant call the poll or what it is democratic.
THeres lots of opinions lost if you only ask like 20 persons.
You also need to check a large area, otherwise your poll will be EXTREMELY PARTIAL. protect the minoritys yall

Therein lies the problem. It's almost impossible to poll an entire nation. There's also the problem of people manipulating the results by way of improper representation, specific wording to get a desired response, and asking particular people. I highly doubt that anyone can get a completley impartial poll with those easily manipulated variables around.