Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social

28 days ago

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:

Should we castigate the public for a lack of imagination or common sense? No, the blame lies with lazy politicians and their craven advisers. The approach of issue polling and then building a campaign around it completely ignores the human faculties of judgement and imagination. It assumes that when people hear a question and answer it, they all mean the same thing and that thing reflects a shared empirical reality. They don’t, and it doesn’t. Everyone has very different images in their mind. The key is to put the right images in their mind, hopefully, good, inspiring, grand, and virtuous ones. Politicians need to go back to basics, to the oldest political skill: rhetoric, that is the art of combining reason with imagery that moves the emotions.

John Ganz @lioneltrolling.bsky.social

28 days ago

Against Polling

It's 90% Bullshit

Wealth Economics @steveroth.bsky.social

27 days ago

Also: every report of polling results should be required to say, “X percent of respondents SAY THAT they believe/think Y.”

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