Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Benjamin Disreali and Mark Twain are both credited with describing the three types of information. Similarly, Winston Churchill warned people not to "trust any statistics you did not fake yourself." I wonder where polling would fall into this. With polling, the way a question is presented can impact the responses.

I saw a poll on one of the news channels asking if racism was responsible for criticism and resistance to the President's policy efforts. The poll was in response to Jimmy Carter suggestion that racism is a factor, though perhaps not a driving motivator. The impression I got from the exceprts of Carter's message was that the racism he was discussing was more of an unconscious response that explicit action and attitude.

Anyhow, back on topic. The poll went down predictably. I believe something along the lines of 65% said "no," about 20% said "yes," and a perpetually confused 15% replied with the wonderful "not sure."

This might be one of the most useless poll questions ever devised. People whose resistance is racially motivated may not be aware of it. More people who are aware of racist feelings may not be willing to admit them. Those who want to find racism in any sort of opposition tend to find it wherever they decide to look. Then, of course, there are people who oppose the policy decisions because they genuinely believe these decisions are not the best choice.

Of course, these poll results were supeficially discussed for a good 15-20 minutes before moving on to something equally useless. Since I was at the gym, on the treadmill, my options were either to watch this news report, or stare at the timer, watching my distance tick slowly up toward my goal.

Perhaps I should have stared at my odometer.