By Florida Bill
One of the great frauds being perpetrated on the public is the rapid fire polls which allegedly reveal the core feelings and preferences of a nation. I was reminded of this idiocy with the latest "survey" laid upon gullible citizens, designed to put down the new Republican President.
It was a "scoop" announced by CNN that a new survey has determined that more Americans trust CNN than they trust President Trump. That one was the product of Survey/Monkey which seems to specialize in the business of "tell us what you want" and we'll provide it.
Where was it taken and how many were polled and what were the questions. Why not take the survey in West Virginia or the Chicago suburbs. Those polls will show Trump to be extremely popular and climbing. Instead, the polls are being taken in Harlem and in San Francisco. Get the point.
These pollsters claim to have put their "stethoscopes" on the heart of the nation. Pollsters are like wild and hungry chickens after the scattered corn. They can find answers to any situation confronting the planet. So, if you want to know who is up and who is down and who is liked and who is a complete schmuck, ask the well-paid guys with the crystal balls, but let them no hows you are leaning. .
They say that they can tell just what is beating in the heart of a nation with 330 million persons. Give your questions to the professionals and they will have the answers (that you want) post haste. The wackier the need-to-know question, the better. And with today's anti-Trump frenzy, when you can sock it to the Republicans, its go-time for disingenuous members of the print and electronic media.
The Washington Post, which is not a fan of the President or of anything remotely connected with the word Republican, recently reported findings from a survey that "Trump's standing has been weakened since springtime." Another pollster screamed that the USA is "tumbling in the world's regard under Trump." Another reported that if a head-on-head with Clinton were held today, Trump would lose by seven points.
No so long ago, we were told that it has been determined that Hillary Clinton, a loser in the race for president, often labeled as "Crooked Hillary," was the most admired woman in the USA. And then, who is the most popular politician? Of course, it's Denmark-loving socialist Bernie Sanders, the "independent" senator from Vermont. Believe all that? Some do. But it has an odor.
I don't know how much these political surveys cost, but you can bet there will be no tag days for the polling companies. But I don't believe these merchants are going to make you waste your money. If you requested a survey concerning the actions of your opponent, you will not be disappointed. The deeper the wound inflicted, the greater the appreciation by the client.
How are shotgun surveys carried out--with its three per cent "plus or minus" accuracy factor. In principle, we are told that a public opinion poll taps into the heads of a "scientifically constituted" group of maybe 400 to 1,000 persons, and that this carefully selected sample must look and act like the larger population they come from in every important way.
Essentially, questions are drafted and asked over the telephone. We never hear much about the precise questions, or to whom they are put, etc. TV pundits are fed the conclusions which just happen to kick dirt on a Republican, and the media goes bonkers with excitement.
Reaching into political preferences is a manipulated activity in which telephone inquisitors go to areas where the answers are predictable. In the past election, the pronouncement by virtually every poll was that Clinton would decimate Trump. How accurate were those? Any "fake news" in these shotgun polls?
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