CBS Poll: Majority of Americans Want Republicans to Keep Fighting HealthCare Bill

[B_talltpaguy]

^When you're desperately grasping for something to justify your own misguided faith in a political ideology that time is revealing to be an utter and complete failure, you take what you can get.

 

[Trinity]

youre honestly going to try to argue that 649 people is significant enough to represent the opinions of some 200 million eligible voters?

Yes. A poll conducted correctly can significantly gage opinions of 200 million eligible voters. If you understood polling you would know that. The CBS Poll margin of error was + or -4 percentage points.

...I thought it would be apropos to talk about some of the basic mathematics underlying electoral polling, and specifically to explain the fact, which can be highly unintuitive to those not well versed in statistics, that polls can be accurate even when sampling only a tiny fraction of the entire population.

Terence Tao

Because polls give approximate answers, the more people interviewed in a scientific poll, the smaller the error due to the size of the sample, all other things being equal. A common trap to avoid is that "more is automatically better." While it is absolutely true that the more people interviewed in a scientific survey, the smaller the sampling error, other factors may be more important in judging the quality of a survey.

National Council on Public Polling

maybe you should re-read that article. because its saying that some people were skeptical about Social Security and Medicare at first too. just because it says "the public" doesnt mean all Americans, it doesnt even mean a majority. "the public" could mean three guys sitting on a park bench. they use words like that when they dont have specifics to point to.

see how i used "they" same thing

and you cant just snip 2 words and assume it supports your argument.

The article supports my argument...it however does not support your argument.

 

[Industrialsize]

The ONLY poll that counts occurs in the voting booth.

 

[1kmb1]

Yes. A poll conducted correctly can significantly gage opinions of 200 million eligible voters. If you understood polling you would know that. The CBS Poll margin of error was + or -4 percentage points.

Terence Tao

National Council on Public Polling



The article supports my argument...it however does not support your argument.

again you post an article that does nothing for your argument. notice the qualifier "ideal" the real world isnt ideal.

notice how he says "can" all hes saying is that under ideal conditions it is possible for small sample size polls to be accurate.

youve already acknowledged the flaws in polling by saying "A poll conducted correctly"

its based on assumptions, you do know what happens when you assume right?

on to your first article, it compares the healthcare bill to social security and Medicare in that both faced opposition AT FIRST

taking the article as a whole. what does social security and Medicare have in common? well for the purposes of this article, they both faced early opposition and were eventually accepted by the vast majority of Americans.

thats the point they were trying to make.

 

[D_Geffarde Phartsmeller]

The ONLY poll that counts occurs in the voting booth.

I disagree. I can think of another POLE that matters.

Hi-ohhhh!!!!