Monday, September 19, 2016

poll critique 9/19/16

Polls should not drive the news because they tend to misrepresent information at times.

According to the Montevideo article, “The season of poll watching will soon hit high gear,” poll information is sometimes misrepresented by media. According to the same article, a lead of six points or less should not be considered a “lead” if you consider the general margin of error to be about three percentage points, the only time it is a significant lead is if the points are twice the margin of error.

Another reason that polls should not drive the news is because it, theoretically, can give the public a false idea. The New York Times article, “Real-Time Election Day Projections May Upend News Tradition,” describes the way publishing early results may negatively affect voter turn-out.

Polls should be accessible to the public so that anyone can educate herself on the presidential election, but they should not drive the news because it can negatively affect the information gathered by voters and voter turn-out.

Polls shouldn’t drive the news, but when a drastic shift occurs in the lead close to election time, polls will inevitably drive the news anyway.


Realclearpolitics.com has some interesting articles related to the election and explanation of what’s happening in the polls without being entirely too formal or biased. 

Clinton currently has the lead, although Trump is quickly catching up. 

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