Ganz killing it here, combining a critical methodological perspective on how polling is done with fundamental political theory about what politics is & what it involves:
I've had it with data.— www.unpopularfront.news/p/against-po...
It's 90% Bullshit
is no regulations for polling. no oversight, nobody double checking #s. i know of a bunch of polls that i can prove are biased just cause of how they do it, both differently. it's all in the small print nobody reads. long as politicians can find polls that favor them how they got #s doesnt matter
I often look at the questions the a poll has asked and wonder how I would respond. Way too often it would be "exactly what do you mean by X" or "what part of X are you talking about" Even "do you agree about deporting criminals" involves what you mean by criminals. Felons only, or traffic stops?
Nah. Blue state Dem main character syndrome.
This is a good piece!!!
Tend to agree that things like public transit or universal healthcare are often popular, yet that's generally not the question that is asked.
And then things like 53% supported "mass deportations" and probably had no idea what that actually meant or how brutal (and costly) it really is.
Yep. I opposed the ACA, not because I don’t want universal healthcare, but because I do. A right winger opposes the ACA because they hate socialism (even if they have no idea why).
Polling tends to treat both answers to that support/oppose question the same.
This comment on the post is also extremely insightful:
Also: every report of polling results should be required to say, “X percent of respondents SAY THAT they believe/think Y.”
But,but,but…. Don’t the social sciences largely employ survey data?
I blame the public.
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I'm a highly politically opinionated person and have never once been polled for anything. Polls just mean "here's what the few boomers who still answer land lines for strangers think"
No compromise with the voters! We know best, and they are cattle!
And the problem is following perceived public opinion instead of leading and shaping it. We act as though we don’t believe in our own ideas.
This is absolutely my position on polling, and I've felt this way about it for some time. Glad to see it put into words.
It's like a JD power survey they give you a buck within the 3 months of owning a new product to let them know how that product was. I send them back the dollar. I never give them a survey I don't know what they say. Surveys are given by people who need a specific answer.
If you're interested in reading more about rhetoric, here are some things to check out:
My colleague Bryan Garsten is one of the main guys on this. Here's his 2011 Annual Review of Political Science piece on rhetoric's revival (should be freely available): www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
The recent wave of interest in the rhetorical tradition among political theorists can be attributed partly to the rise of theories of deliberative democracy, which focused attention on communication a...
