ABC News Lies in Poll

This is why the news media has fallen so far and lacks any credibility.

This is a quote from an ABC News story on a recent poll.



Now the question becomes this:

Are the writers of the article just sloppy and incompetent when they write that "55 percent of ALL AMERICANS said..." Obviously they didn't poll all Americans.

Or is this done intentionally to sway public opinion and make the poll seem more important than it really is?

Can writers really be this incompetent?

Oh, and how many people were interviewed for this poll?

"In all, the ABC poll included telephone interviews with a random national sample of 505 adults."

505 people were interviewed, and this was translated into the conclusion that 55% of ALL AMERICANS said Palin's selection makes no difference. So 275 people said this and ABC News concludes that 150 MILLION said it. Brilliant.

But wait.... there's more...



So the poll wasn't even RANDOM to begin with. ABC News hand-picked who to call.

Source

So either journalistic standard have dropped to new depths, or ABC News is out to advance their own agenda. Personally, I can't believe any professional writer working for a major news outlet could possibly be so dumb.





[edit on 7-9-2008 by jamie83]

reply to post by jamie83

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Cmon Jamie..... This is how all polls are conducted. From time to time the anchor will refer to the pol las representing all Americans. The neilsen ratings boxes arent in every American home, but they represent America... Same rule applies...

they werent lying.

I agree this isn't lying but it is misleading. You have to admit that many people take what the media says to heart.


I have also seen members here use it too making one believe that those percentages of people were polled.

Majority of Americans 67% think Obama and McCain would make good Presidents...




The problem is I only polled 3 people- me, myself, and I

Have to admit it is misleading.

Of course this is how polls are done.

That said, it is either incredibly disingenuous on the part of ABC News, or incredibly incompetent, that they characterize the result of the poll "that 55 percent of all Americans said..."

The polls + MSM are the dirtiest secret of how the PTB attempt to manipulate public opinion.

Seriously, 505 people were called on the phone and asked some questions. This would be 10 people per state. Or about 1 person in each major city, and 1 person in the suburbs of each state.

From this ABC News concludes "55% of Americans SAID...."???

There is no defense of this in terms of journalistic integrity. It's gone. The MSM has been turned into a massive mind f*** machine and we're all the ones getting bombarded everyday and manipulated.

Our core beliefs and behaviors are being manipulated by this type of false reporting. Ever read Robert Cialdini's book "Influence"? One of the major forces of human behavior is social proof. People will act in a way they believe other people are acting.

By brainwashing us to even CARE about the polls at all is a form of brainwashing. To get us hanging on pins and needles everyday about what the polls say is high level brainwashing.

In fact, I would suggest that the polls CREATE the results of the elections to a certain extent. We're all being manipulated.

Let's put it another way. What legitimate purpose do polls serve?

Jamie, Jamie, Jamie! You talk about incompetence, while at the same time demonstrating to all of us the extent of your knowledge of statistics. Quit while you are ahead man! Of course you can always enroll in a statistics course at your local community college (after you meet the basic math requirements of course) or University if not offered at the Jr. College level and learn how polling is done and what + or - 4% really means.

ABC definately screwed up.

Usually these things are said like this - 50% of American POLLED said ___

ABC either didn't know what it's doing (yeah ... riiiiiight) or it purposely said what it said in order to mislead those who heard it - at least subliminally mislead them.

the MSM with an agenda. Whodathunkit?

Good catch.

Yes Jamie... you are one of my favorite Republican handmaidens. You spend SO much time quoting studies and polls and this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you understand absolutely nothing about polling. I'm not going to educate you here. You clearly have enough time on your hands to do it yourself. There is no lie here, no deception whatsoever. This is the nature of polls and sampling. Go educate yourself and come back here when you're ready.

Oh, and before you bash my credibility, let me simply state that I have made my living and held executive level positions at international agencies involved in population modeling. I have run my own business of this type for over 7yrs.

You're wrong. More Republican propaganda as usual.

reply to post by jamie83

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Very good find Jamie. Its yet another example of the way the MSM manipulates the truth, to help further democrat agendas. I hope people wake up before they dominate the government too.

What amazes me is all the otherwise intelligent people, who turn around and say things like, "Hey thats how it is!" or "Its ok, Fox does it too!". Are we here to deny ignorance or perpetuate it? Sometimes I'm not so sure.

[edit on 7-9-2008 by Dronetek]

Haha, and look at how another Neocon comes on and praises ignorance! Sad, but they must stick together. Why? If they don't then those evil facts and reality might get them.

reply to post by jamie83

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Polls are made to represent ALL Americans. That is the point, if a poll actually only represented the views of 500-1000 Americans(typical polling size), what would be the point. As some have stated, a stats class will clue you into why polls are accepted as covering the whole even when they only have a limited number of people.

You can say that they should have said "of all Americans polled...." but the Americans polled, represent All Americans based on the science of stats.

Knowledge is Power

I have to concur that it is the language of statistics but I can see how people would get confused. An inspired individual could find similar examples from Fox News if they had the time to look. I got too many thread windows open as it is.

Jamie, this is the stuff we were talking about... He gave the answer in his post... FOX does it too. THEY ALL DO. Its not to further some democratic purpose. Its just how polls are done... Its no surprise they dont really represent all americans in terms of numbers... but as I said, the neilson ratings are done the same way.. bigger numbers of course, but still just a sampling...

And ya know what? These polls are usually correct. Not 100% but they usually get it right. Hence we put faith into the polls, despite the low numbers they use.

People have memories these days in terms of 5 mins, so you have answered your question. The news do not care if they lie, there is so much in your face, who is going to remember.

I am very well versed in statistics.

You cannot accurately extrapolate a survey of 505 people who answered their phones and took time to answer questions to any meaningful conclusion about the entire 340 million population of the U.S., especially in terms of their opinions.

A major consideration is geography. People in different regions have different beliefs.

Since you seem so condescendingly knowledgeable, maybe you can explain to me how the accuracy of +/- 4% is calculated, and prove mathematically what this number really means.

Misunderstood knowledge is the opposite of power. It's slavery.

Just fyi, I am very well versed in stats. I've probably taken more college stats classes than most here. I've also needed to apply statistics in my engineering background, and financial business.

So please enlighten us. How does a sample of 505 correlate with a population of 340 million or so spread over 50 states and millions of square miles? Or do you just believe the pollsters because they tell you it's true?

Three important points.

This is NOT how Nielson does it. When it comes to real money being paid by advertisers, they use a much larger sample. Do you really think Neilson only uses 505 people for their samples?

No, Nielson samples 25,000 people a day, and tracks 10 million minutes of television viewing per day. That's a far cry from 505 people being called on the phone.

Second, they do NOT get it "right" in political polls. In 2004 there were reports in the afternoon that Kerry was going to win based on exit polls.

Third, at what point does the polling CREATE the result? Do you think people's first impression of Gov. Palin might have been influenced by all the reports that she had an 90% approval rating in Alaska?

Do you think people might have thought differently of her if her approval rating was 10%?



[edit on 7-9-2008 by jamie83]

This has nothing to do with Republicans or Democrats. This has to do with the media lying when they sample 505 people and then write, based on that sample, that "55% of Americans believe XYZ..."

It doesn't matter what the XYZ is. 275 people answered a question on a survey. That is not the same as 200 million people saying anything.

Do you even understand what the +/- 4% margin of error means?

reply to post by jamie83

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I have half a dozen statistics books on my shelf here in my office...I could easily grab one for reference and provide that for you here. Or you could go get a book and read up on it yourself. It's not my job to hand feed you Jamie. You're an adult (I presume) and thus capable of looking it up yourself. It's not my job to teach you statistics.

I'm sorry... I must have missed the memo...

I wasn't aware that it was ATS policy to discuss members instead of the topic...

On topic or not at all...

You go to the different polls around the Internet on who people will vote for and most show McCain is ahead approx 55% to obama's 45%
But the left wing media shows Obama to be ahead

Its is just the left wing media trying to shift the vote to Obama.

When the election comes i believe you will see the media spend the day claiming there exit polls show that Obama leads by much more then the final vote will show.
And he most likely will lose.

One problem the media polls has is most of the polls are from urban areas and not rural areas.
McCain will win the rural vote big.
It just comes down to can he get enough of the urban vote.

Few reporters go out to the rural areas of the country.
and Few live there.


[edit on 15-9-2008 by ANNED]