Poll manipulation (by the pollsters) is done regularly. From wording questions in ways to get the answer they want to manipulation of the sample by when during the day they take the poll.
Since the pollsters have become great manipulators, I think the American people should rebel. My advice --- lie. If you get a call from one of these media "opinion polls"... keep your real opinion to yourself and pick an answer that does NOT represent it. This is ESPECIALLY true if they ask demographic questions (salary, age, etc.). If you happen to be doing well, say you make $16,500/yr. If you happen to be scraping by, tell them you make $235,000/yr.
And if you're polled on your way out of a polling station during an election -- alway tell them you voted for a 3rd party candidate -- or tell them you wrote somebody in.
If you think about it, the poll is probably a sham that is made to promote an issue in a certain direction anyway... so ultimately, they're only asking questions to validate their presupposition. So why not have a little fun with it? Besides, the media is regularly selective in what it tells us about what is going on in the world and they typically make up the rest of the story. This is just turning the tables on them.
[Yes -- I'm a media cynic... and lately, a political cynic as well]
I don't know if I'd indict all polls. But one of my dad's favorite aphorisms comes to mind: "Figures don't lie- but liars figure."
Anonymous said…
Rush Limbaugh is absolutely right about polls: they are taken, and with ever increasing frequency, for the sole purpose of manufacturing news. They're not designed to accurately measure or reflect anything. They're just a cheap springboard to a story, and that story has already been written. Me cynical too. And beyond.
Comments
Since the pollsters have become great manipulators, I think the American people should rebel. My advice --- lie. If you get a call from one of these media "opinion polls"... keep your real opinion to yourself and pick an answer that does NOT represent it. This is ESPECIALLY true if they ask demographic questions (salary, age, etc.). If you happen to be doing well, say you make $16,500/yr. If you happen to be scraping by, tell them you make $235,000/yr.
And if you're polled on your way out of a polling station during an election -- alway tell them you voted for a 3rd party candidate -- or tell them you wrote somebody in.
If you think about it, the poll is probably a sham that is made to promote an issue in a certain direction anyway... so ultimately, they're only asking questions to validate their presupposition. So why not have a little fun with it? Besides, the media is regularly selective in what it tells us about what is going on in the world and they typically make up the rest of the story. This is just turning the tables on them.
[Yes -- I'm a media cynic... and lately, a political cynic as well]
Me cynical too. And beyond.