Comment on Bought to you by the central limit theorem society
melsaskca@lemmy.ca 4 days ago
That’s why polls are meaningless even though they are referenced, followed and reported on. Nothing is statistically significant anymore. Publish any shit that supports your position, just add a “+/-” percentage number at the end and it’ll look “professionalish”.
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Stats require a sample from a smaller population that represents the entire population. Phone polls don’t include people a) without phones b) who ignore unknown calls c) who decline to reply to poll calls and d) who lie to poll calls (at least not accurately). I know I’ve been tempted to lie when someone reaches out on behalf of a politician I don’t like, though usually I just ignore the texts.
Exit polls can be similarly affected, though the dynamics are a bit different.