To MSNBC, some values of 3 are larger than others
When is a 47%-44% polling result "a big lead" and when is it "almost dead even?" According to MSNBC, it depends on who's leading.
I was just watching MSNBC when the anchor-lady pointed to a poll with a +/- 3 point margin of error that asked people whom they trusted to better undertand their needs/situation. The results were 47%-44%, in favor of John Kerry. The anchor-lady expressed great shock and incredulity when she mentioned a recent Time magazine poll that shows an 11-point Bush lead, and asked a colleague on-air "doesn't that 11-point lead seem strange to you, seeing as how so many more Americans trust John Kerry..."
So many more, huh? 3%? In a poll with a 3 point margin of error. OK, I thought, so the lady doesn't understand "margin of error...." I'm forgiving like that - after all, I thought, "she's a newscaster; how bright can she be?"
But then, in the very next breath, less than a minute later, the exact same lady pointed to another poll that asked which candidate they trusted more with (i think it was national security? i don't recall.) The results of THAT poll, also with a +/-3 point margin of error, were 50% Bush and 46% Kerry - and she called it "A VIRTUAL DEAD HEAT!"
So, according to MSNBC, when Kerry leads by 3 points (within the margin of error) he is far ahead, and when President Bush leads by 4 points it's a "virtual dead heat."
And who said the media was biased?
Posted by jkhat at September 4, 2004 10:13 AM
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| # March 7th, 2005 6:48 PM Converted_Comment | |
I suspect it is merely evidence of poor education, which is the requisite foundation of a liberal. When Sue Bauman won her first mayoral election, WSJ called it a "landslide" - of the thousands upon thousands of votes cast, she won by a margin of 11 votes, IIRC, so that was a landslide. Additionally, WSJ reported that she won a "majority" of the voting wards. Of the 104 or so wards in Madison at that time, her opponents won the majority of votes in 89 wards, IIRC, and she won the remainder, less than 20. So, about 15% is a majority for their favorite candidate, as opposed to the 85% that her opponent garnered. |