Whatever one may think of Mother Corpse (or Allan Gregg), this segment today on CBC Radio’s “The House” is really worth the listen, audio link in quote:
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Can you rely on political polls and the pollsters who analyze them? Pollster Allan Gregg from Harris Decima and former parliamentary reporter Paul Adams have a few warnings…
Mr Gregg is truly scathing about the current breed and the use our media make of them.
Amazing how the ‘experts’ question how polls are used when they don’t confirm predetermined outcomes. I will admit I didn’t listen to the link. As much as the libs hate what the polls say they do determine policy and direction from them. Unfortunately the conservatives do as well.
Thankyou, Very interesting comments from Allen Gregg. Franks Graves has been given vaulted credibility from the know nothing Evan Solomom.
Praise from Evan Solomon.
About as good as economic advice from Obozo.
If Canadians are “shallow thinkers” about things political, you can lay a large portion of the blame at the feet of MSM. Their determined habit to follow every useless political meme thrown around in question period, while sugar coating the reality of the world they do show their viewers causes most people to tune them out.
Turn on CTV News Channel, or CBC News World, or whatever they are calling themselves these days, and you are more likely to be informed of Justin Beiber’s latest social outing, rather than updates on continued unrest in the middle east.
You’ll get a discussion panel on Global Warming that consists of the host, someone from the Suzuki Foundation, someone from Greenpeace, someone from the WWF, someone from the renewable energy industry and maybe an IPCC approved scientist. Balanced it’s not, informative it’s not, propaganda it is.
And they wonder why Canadian’s seem disengaged from the political scene.
I once won a t-shirt to The House for a letter I wrote to them! I’ll give it a listen, thank you!
I enjoyed the discussion. I agree with the pollsters who, not in so many words, once again pointed to the achilles heel of current mainstream journalism and mainstream journalists i.e. they’re equally ignorant in everything and, germane to this topic, wholly lacking in the knowledge required to recognize the limits of any given poll. The result is unsubstantiated opinion masquerading as “news” supported only by more unsubstantiated opinion labelled as “fact”.
Chantal Hebert, did you get that!?
I have had a few ‘toe to toes’ with Chantal on this very subject. Her columns are often predicated on poll “results”.
She has now blocked my emails – anyone care to send her the link?
…..when my nose is at her toes and her toes are at my nose….
….ahhhhhh fergit it already or i’ll lose my brekkie.
ron:
Gregg made very similar comments on Thursday night’s CBC-TV panel, so I’m not sure that sending an email to Chantal would enlighten her in any way more than what she heard with her own ears.
🙂
Yes, but is is still important that she knows that many Canadians also know that media polls are one big agenda driven scam.
There are two classes of polls: those intended for the guidance of a political party, which are usually kept private,
but which are as accurate as money can buy; and those which are intended to be made public. Need one say more?
The current view among the younger people seems to be that one says or writes whatever one pleases,
and pass it off as fact or honest argument;
there is no reality, only discourse; which implies, in effect, that public discussions are reduced to propaganda exercises.
Even more alarming is that that may be happening to supposedly neutral public statistics: the CPI for instance;
and I would not be surprised to learn that Environment Canada is massaging its historical weather.
I find some of the numbers which show up on weather.gc for historical weather to be suspicious indeed.
“statistics” is a math based entity, and most of our young can distiquise math from their left foot
Credit where credit is due, the CBC has made some positive changes on the radio. The House was horrible for a while.
Less bash more questioning and with some hosts an education when all do not say what you expect them to.
The new guy on As It Happens is a keeper and I can even leave the radio on Saturdays.
I have always enjoyed CBC radio, it’s the CBC/CTV TV news I can’t stand because it’s so liberally biased. Great links Kate.
Pollsters, like Journalists are true parasites on the flesh of a healthy society. Both do not pay for their raw materials, a news story or an opinion, yet both turn around and sell their results to the very public the just took it from for free. Worse are the official pollsters of a political party who are payed with public money… How did society ever function correctly with a pollster? Absolutely just fine according to my Dad.
Statistics to stagger you. Free! from Our Enemy, The State.
WHO said the ‘flu infected 1,000000000 rats in lab tests in 1987.
The State is a ratist.
An actuary’s utopia: “wiped off value”; “pensions”; “inflation”; “rate of inflation”; “underestimated”, etc.
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“DM | £80bn wiped off value of pensions after inflation rate was underestimated for 12 years
A staggering £80billion has been wiped off the value of pensions because the rate of inflation has been underestimated for 12 years, it emerged last night”
http://www.jacksnewswatch.com/
“Commentating”??? Must be related to “orientating” Mr. & Ms. Journalist, the Englaish word is “Commenting” or “Orienting” as in “People are commenting on issues for which the poll does not provide data”.
Please send our “betters” back to grade school English class!
Chantal Hebert is a Her? wow I gotta get with it Ron.
Actually, I think Chantal is a nice Lady – just in the wrong profession and employ.
I had a newfie Conservative pollster phone me yesterday asking if I would consider voting conservative. Then she asked me what issue I though important. When I said immigration is too high, she snorted in derision. What do you think the odds she wrote it down do pass on to her boss?
I had a newfie Conservative pollster phone me yesterday asking if I would consider voting conservative. Then she asked me what issue I though important. When I said immigration is too high, she snorted in derision. What do you think the odds she wrote it down do pass on to her boss?
Gregg and Adams give far too much credit to journalists in their discussion. The vast majority of them are innumerate and have no understanding of concepts such as margin of error or question bias. Most of them are really only are interested in the “horse race” question. They will publish whatever you spoon feed them.
Gregg and Adams maintain that pollsters have no business on giving opinions about politics as they are neither insiders or journalists. By the same token, journalists should then have no business giving opinions about polls as they are not statisticians.
You’d think for a couple billion dollars they could put up an audio player that doesn’t freeze on a Mac.
Defund the CBC