Most of the Right wing is thumping their chest about the win of Trump over what the polls were telling the population……the polls were really wrong…..and now the pollsters are trying to explain away their total lack of knowledge of the voting public….it is almost humorous all the tap dancing going on…..
But I read a piece from the UK that made me sit up and think that it would be the best new law in a century…..
Flush all political polls down the toilet……..
Parliament looks set to consider a bill that would introduce strict rules on polling companies and could even ban polls being conducted in the weeks leading up to an election.
Labour peer Lord Foulkes introduced legislation in the last parliament aimed at setting up an Ofcom style regulator for polling companies. The body would draw up rules setting a gold standard for conducting polls and be governed by a board made up of representatives of the polling companies, political parties and the media.
That bill fell due to lack of parliamentary time but Foulkes, who has served as both and MP and an MSP in a political career stretching 40 years, is determined to revive it after the polls apparently failed to predict Donald Trump’s election victory in America.
He said: “In light of the US polls fiasco and Brexit I intend to pursue this bill again.
“Once again we’ve seen how often polling is wrong, which is why the companies involved should welcome regulation and a strict standards to adhere to which would improve their credibility.”
Foulkes’ proposals would also give the new regulator the power to ban polling ahead of a big election. He added: “Banning polling in the last couple of weeks before an election would switch the focus to the issues at stake rather than the media just regurgitating the latest poll.”
Foulkes has previously complained that polling has been “corrupted” by newspapers commissioning and reporting surveys to suit their own agenda and to help shape the narrative going into elections.
Polling companies dismissed Lord Foulkes previous Regulation of Political Polling Bill as “ludicrous” and “offensive”.
(Total Politics)
This is the greatest idea EVER!
I believe that it is in the UK where lies are NOT permitted in political ads either….another great idea.
Thoughts?
The pollsters do not have to worry about their lack of knowledge about the Public Will because the pollsters have never had an inkling of what America thinks.The pollsters always manage to take the pulse of a minute sampling or cross section of the Public and I am convinced their results are skewed as closely as possible to the agenda or expectations of whoever pays the bills for the individual polls and the end results then become “Manufactured” reality and has nothing at all to do with what is actually happening in the trenches. Polls are crap and no longer have any credibility because of the obvious shallowness of their samplings and because of the realization at they are owned and manipulated. If somebody were to take a poll that includes every one of the more than 350 million Americans then I would be more willing to listen to what it has to say.Until that time polls rest comfortably and securely in my bin of things marked,”Time Wasted.” Polls are at best “He Said; She Said” remedies to a need for instant information and are always volatile, changeable and undependable.
I am not arguing their accuracy only that the proposal on the table in the UK
Media is corrupt. It’s a machine that makes a small number of people extremely wealthy, however after this past election cycle, something needs to be done. I’m left wondering how many more people would have turned out to vote if they hadn’t been beaten over the head that Clinton was going to be the sure-fire winner. I’m also left wondering how, if polling wasn’t allowed in the weeks leading up to an election, how the issues (rather than polls) would have swayed the election. It’s likely the same result would have taken place anyway as Clinton couldn’t have held up to scrutiny that wasn’t propped up by false polling data.
I think polls played a role….the whole “swing state” mentality played a role…
There’s an Italian saying: “A thousand probabilities don’t make one fact.” Polling deals in probabilities and selection of the population to sample, how questions are posed, sample size, and other magical things determine poll accuracy. That stated, I like the idea of making polls illegal at least two weeks before an election, perhaps more than that since many states have early voting at least a month before an election. As for making lies illegal in elections, I’d add character assassination, too.
Yep…I think it is a cowardly way to win an election….could be why I am not a politician…LOL
If lies are not permitted in political ads, what’s there for them to say? “What’s that blank sign in your yard?” “It’s a political ad without lies on it.” “Ah, of course.”
Good point….
I am SOOOoooo FOR THIS! I also think that no media organization should be able to call a State’s winner until ALL Voting is Closed! You can report counts but even if it is overwhelming in favor of on candidate or another…DON’T CALL IT BEFORE OTHERS FINISH VOTING.
Thus spake druathustra.
Of course, and that should be LAW, and I thought it was illegal to announce winners before polls closed across the country (in Canada anyway) because our countries span so many time lines.
There is a huge push to rid of electoral college…..should be a great debate….and I agree…all votes…chuq
Well, hell…. I guess I’ll just echo Lazarus again….
“A fake fortune teller can be tolerated. But an authentic soothsayer should be shot on sight. Cassandra did not get half the kicking around she deserved.” — Lazarus Long
Ffolkes, not only is trying to predict the future a pastime fraught with risk of failure, but, when indulged in by humans, only soothes that part of us which already has too much tendency to imagine us as competent to survive. It is part of our fatal flaw, of thinking we can alter reality to suit the demands of our ego for a feeling of safety from possible future harm; this is, of course, a delusion, for safety is not part of our universe.
It’s as simple as that. As long as we place any credence in polls, it will continue to confuse and befuddle ALL the pertinent issues involved in the election process, and will never provide the safety of actually knowing the future…. Which, if you stop to think about it, never really helps, anyway….
Silly humans….
gigoid the dubious