Post
by Joolz » 04-16-2010 04:05 AM
Ah, who to believe?... polls, polls, and more polls... HB3 says some poll says 25% of Tea Partiers are Democrats. The same poll he cites in another post (the NYT one) says that 54% of Tea Partiers are Republicans, 5% are Democrats, 36% are Independents and 5% don't know what they are. So, I guess it depends on which pollster you want to believe.
But seriously, we all know that polls can be skewed up one side and down the other. I have to say I'm very skeptical about some of the results in this NYT poll.
I mean, asking people what political party they belong to, what race they are, whether they're male or female, or how old they are -- such questions usually get a reliable response. Why lie about something like that? There's no personal gain in lying on those kinds of questions.
But ask how much education they have, how much money they make, or what social class they think they belong to, and some people will lie --toward the upside -- because it makes them look better, or it makes them feel better about themselves, or for any number of similar reasons.
IMHO.
Oh, and also, here's a question for the sociologists and/or statisticians among us:
In the question in the NYT poll, dated 4/5-12/10, where they asked people: "Do you consider yourself to be a supporter of the Tea Party movement, or not?," 18% said Yes, 62% said No, and 19% said they didn't know.
Yet, on the cover page for the poll, they said that of the responses dated 4/5-12/10, the total number polled was 1,580, but the total number of self-identified Tea Partiers was 881. How does that work? 18% of 1,580 is not 881.
So, we either have something like 284 people, or we have 881 people, who self-identified as Tea Partiers in this poll. Either way, that's not all that many people to be basing these claims upon. IMO. I might be able to put more stock in it if it were the combined results of more than a few days polling, too.
But... yeah... polls, polls, and more polls... who to believe? If I believe what I've seen and heard -- photos, video, etc., I call it all bogus. WTH? Who to believe, eh?
And no, I don't wanna argue. I don't have time right now anyhow. These are just late night thoughts floating through my head after taking a look at the actual poll numbers, and I thought I might as well share them, for whatever they may be worth. Or not.
And yeah, this post probably should have been posted in the thread about the NYT poll, but I was reading this thread when I thought about all of this, so here it be. :p
Anchors Aweigh!