There are alot of things to learn during an election year, both about people
and the country that we live in. One of the things that is very visible
is how the use of polls really does effect the decisions that are not only made
by our government but by the people that live in it.
All we hear in these polls is that this candidate leads this candidate or this candidate is polling better so they will be winning everything. We hear that this is what people in the country think or want. Some of the polls bring out good and some bring out bad. What I wonder about polls is why we actually listen to them when they do not answer alot of questions.
Something that is so illogical about polls, is that they only take the opinion of anywhere between 1,000 and 2,000 people. The number of people who will be part of the poll is determined by the people who are running the poll. In a country of 320 million people, 2000 people make up .00000625 percent of the country. A crazy small sample yet it is used as if it was one of the most important things in the country.
Another issue is how do we really know what questions were asked? If a poll says 3 out of 10 women do not have an orgasm during sex, how do we know the exact question they asked? Sex can be made of many different acts and some women do not orgasms during the physical penetration but may during the oral part. So if you ask them generally about sex and they think only the physical act, they may say no.
What about the real emotions and feelings of people during the poll? For example, if one's daughter was just murdered by a person of color, would they say they were in favor of the death penalty where maybe they were not before? Would they then agree that people of color are justly incarcerated versus white's? I think people forget that sometimes it is hard to be objective when your emotions and feelings are in different places at the time the question is asked.
What about the part of the country that we live in. If you ask more people in Texas about abortion than in Colorado, you might get more answers in one direction over another. Is that really a reasonable response if it is isolated to one area over another?
What about race, gender, sexual oreintation, etc. All of these are going to get different responses but it doesn't mean that these responses represent all of these groups as a whole.
Let's look at some examples of polls that are currently being used.
Death Penalty
In a poll last year on the death penalty, they got a response of 1,015 people. The only question they asked is do you agree with the death penalty for murder? The poll said 61% favored, 37% did not and 2% had no opinion. Is this really what the country thinks of the death penalty?
What also can't be determined here is what kind of murder do they favor. Is manslaughter included in that, what about accidental homicide? What about someone that kill someone while drunk driving?
What about circumstances such as Ted Bundy or Charles Manson? Does having them in the poll change the thinking of the death penalty?
http://www.gallup.com/poll/186218/solid-majority-continue-support-death-penalty.aspx?
Socialism v Capitalism
A subject of this election year was the subject of socialism versus capitalism. Surprisingly a poll done in May 2016 says 60% people have a positive view of Capitalism while 35% have a positive view of Socialism.
The sample was 1,544 people. What is interesting about it is that even though 60% say they favored capitalism, 85% actually said they favor free enterprise. How many realize that capitalism is based on the prospect of free enterprise?
Also what was funny is that 53% said they were favorable towards corporations while 96% said they were favorable about small businesses. Small business thrive on capitalism just as much as corporations but it is the corporations that are always called evil.
When taking ages into consideration, even the younger generation that is favoring all of the 'free' government stuff only 55% still said they favor socialism in the 18-29 and 30-49 was at 27%. This is a small amount considering the amount of people fighting for this in the election. The final ironic part of this poll is this same group of 18-29 had a 57% approval of capitalism. Doesn't this say something about the validity of polls?
http://www.gallup.com/poll/191354/americans-views-socialism-capitalism-little-changed.aspx?
Marijuana
A huge debate in the country is the legalization of marijuana. Since some states have started legalizing it and are bringing in tons of money, I am sure this will be polled to death for a long time.
So the most recent poll was how many support the legalization of marijuana. It was 58% supporting in a sample of 855.
Not surprising people 18-34 approve at 71% while people over 65+ represent only 35%.
The one question that is interesting to me that really no one asks is why do you want it legalized? Is it so it can be used more medically, is it to decriminalize people or is it the simple fact that people want to be high all the time to forget their problems?
http://www.gallup.com/poll/186260/back-legal-marijuana.aspx?
Politics
There is no place where polls are used more than in politics. The really amazing thing is that it is not just used to determine who will get elected but pretty much how politicians judge the mood of the people. So when politicians say 58% of people want legalized marijuana, they are telling you how you should think based on the response of 855 people.
Politicians are even using polls to tell you why you should vote for them. Bernie Sanders is using a poll to try to get people to vote for him that says he is stronger to run against Donalad Trump. If you use the You/Gov poll that says Sanders is at 48% v 37% for Trump. This is based on 1,635 registered voters. Meanwhile Rasmussen has Clinton at 42% to 38% for Trump out of 1,000 likely voters.
What questions were asked to determine this, was it just who would you vote for? What about why are you voting for this person? What about the issues that this person stands for, are they important?
What is interesting about this poll is that only 85% and 80% were even saying they would vote for these candidates. That leaves 15% and 20% undecided, not voting or going to vote for someone else or could even vote for Trump which would put him over the top.
It also says one poll uses registered voters and one uses likely voters. So in one poll, people who may be thinking of registering are not taken into consideration. In the other poll, we do not even know if anyone is even going to vote.
I think when we see these polls, we really do not see how this will effect people when others take these polls seriously. If a poll of 1,200 people ask what is the most important issue facing this country and the Economy is first and racism is 5th, which one do we believe will be taken more seriously? Racism is killing people, putting people in jail and having people actually considering putting up walls between countries, yet it is only 5th most important. Is that logical?
Polling to me is the most useless piece of information out there. The right questions are not being asked, it doesn't take everyone into consideration and it is based on a one time question. There has to be a better way of getting to know what people in this country really want.
These are the numbers that are used to determine elections, the future of the country and the people in it. It is sad when candidates start using the polling of elections against their opponent but what is even more sad is how we the people would take the advice of 1,100 instead of our own will.
I have more to say on the subject but I am hungry and need to go ask 800 people what to have for dinner.
All we hear in these polls is that this candidate leads this candidate or this candidate is polling better so they will be winning everything. We hear that this is what people in the country think or want. Some of the polls bring out good and some bring out bad. What I wonder about polls is why we actually listen to them when they do not answer alot of questions.
Something that is so illogical about polls, is that they only take the opinion of anywhere between 1,000 and 2,000 people. The number of people who will be part of the poll is determined by the people who are running the poll. In a country of 320 million people, 2000 people make up .00000625 percent of the country. A crazy small sample yet it is used as if it was one of the most important things in the country.
Another issue is how do we really know what questions were asked? If a poll says 3 out of 10 women do not have an orgasm during sex, how do we know the exact question they asked? Sex can be made of many different acts and some women do not orgasms during the physical penetration but may during the oral part. So if you ask them generally about sex and they think only the physical act, they may say no.
What about the real emotions and feelings of people during the poll? For example, if one's daughter was just murdered by a person of color, would they say they were in favor of the death penalty where maybe they were not before? Would they then agree that people of color are justly incarcerated versus white's? I think people forget that sometimes it is hard to be objective when your emotions and feelings are in different places at the time the question is asked.
What about the part of the country that we live in. If you ask more people in Texas about abortion than in Colorado, you might get more answers in one direction over another. Is that really a reasonable response if it is isolated to one area over another?
What about race, gender, sexual oreintation, etc. All of these are going to get different responses but it doesn't mean that these responses represent all of these groups as a whole.
Let's look at some examples of polls that are currently being used.
Death Penalty
In a poll last year on the death penalty, they got a response of 1,015 people. The only question they asked is do you agree with the death penalty for murder? The poll said 61% favored, 37% did not and 2% had no opinion. Is this really what the country thinks of the death penalty?
What also can't be determined here is what kind of murder do they favor. Is manslaughter included in that, what about accidental homicide? What about someone that kill someone while drunk driving?
What about circumstances such as Ted Bundy or Charles Manson? Does having them in the poll change the thinking of the death penalty?
http://www.gallup.com/poll/186218/solid-majority-continue-support-death-penalty.aspx?
Socialism v Capitalism
A subject of this election year was the subject of socialism versus capitalism. Surprisingly a poll done in May 2016 says 60% people have a positive view of Capitalism while 35% have a positive view of Socialism.
The sample was 1,544 people. What is interesting about it is that even though 60% say they favored capitalism, 85% actually said they favor free enterprise. How many realize that capitalism is based on the prospect of free enterprise?
Also what was funny is that 53% said they were favorable towards corporations while 96% said they were favorable about small businesses. Small business thrive on capitalism just as much as corporations but it is the corporations that are always called evil.
When taking ages into consideration, even the younger generation that is favoring all of the 'free' government stuff only 55% still said they favor socialism in the 18-29 and 30-49 was at 27%. This is a small amount considering the amount of people fighting for this in the election. The final ironic part of this poll is this same group of 18-29 had a 57% approval of capitalism. Doesn't this say something about the validity of polls?
http://www.gallup.com/poll/191354/americans-views-socialism-capitalism-little-changed.aspx?
Marijuana
A huge debate in the country is the legalization of marijuana. Since some states have started legalizing it and are bringing in tons of money, I am sure this will be polled to death for a long time.
So the most recent poll was how many support the legalization of marijuana. It was 58% supporting in a sample of 855.
Not surprising people 18-34 approve at 71% while people over 65+ represent only 35%.
The one question that is interesting to me that really no one asks is why do you want it legalized? Is it so it can be used more medically, is it to decriminalize people or is it the simple fact that people want to be high all the time to forget their problems?
http://www.gallup.com/poll/186260/back-legal-marijuana.aspx?
Politics
There is no place where polls are used more than in politics. The really amazing thing is that it is not just used to determine who will get elected but pretty much how politicians judge the mood of the people. So when politicians say 58% of people want legalized marijuana, they are telling you how you should think based on the response of 855 people.
Politicians are even using polls to tell you why you should vote for them. Bernie Sanders is using a poll to try to get people to vote for him that says he is stronger to run against Donalad Trump. If you use the You/Gov poll that says Sanders is at 48% v 37% for Trump. This is based on 1,635 registered voters. Meanwhile Rasmussen has Clinton at 42% to 38% for Trump out of 1,000 likely voters.
What questions were asked to determine this, was it just who would you vote for? What about why are you voting for this person? What about the issues that this person stands for, are they important?
What is interesting about this poll is that only 85% and 80% were even saying they would vote for these candidates. That leaves 15% and 20% undecided, not voting or going to vote for someone else or could even vote for Trump which would put him over the top.
It also says one poll uses registered voters and one uses likely voters. So in one poll, people who may be thinking of registering are not taken into consideration. In the other poll, we do not even know if anyone is even going to vote.
I think when we see these polls, we really do not see how this will effect people when others take these polls seriously. If a poll of 1,200 people ask what is the most important issue facing this country and the Economy is first and racism is 5th, which one do we believe will be taken more seriously? Racism is killing people, putting people in jail and having people actually considering putting up walls between countries, yet it is only 5th most important. Is that logical?
Polling to me is the most useless piece of information out there. The right questions are not being asked, it doesn't take everyone into consideration and it is based on a one time question. There has to be a better way of getting to know what people in this country really want.
These are the numbers that are used to determine elections, the future of the country and the people in it. It is sad when candidates start using the polling of elections against their opponent but what is even more sad is how we the people would take the advice of 1,100 instead of our own will.
I have more to say on the subject but I am hungry and need to go ask 800 people what to have for dinner.
