pudge's Journal: More on Polls

NBC is reporting a poll it did with the WSJ, and one of the questions is: "Does the President deserve to be re-elected?" What a horrible, useless, question. The answer is necessarily "No" for any value of "President." Nobody deserves to be re-elected. Only someone who has been re-elected deserves to have been re-elected.

The question makes no sense whatsoever. It's like asking if someone deserves to win a football game. Ask me after the game; if they won, they deserved it. If they lost, they didn't.

Huh?

[Otter]

This is essentially the same thing as the usual "Would you vote for X in a race against an unspecified opponent?" Maybe it's not phrased in an entirely logical fashion but I don't see it as an outrageously bad question.

Re:Huh?

[pudge]

This is essentially the same thing as the usual "Would you vote for X in a race against an unspecified opponent?"

No, it is not. I would vote for him, but I don't think he deserves to be re-elected, because no one "deserves" to be President except for the person that a majority of electors votes for. And since we do not know if he will get a majority of electors, I cannot say he deserves it. The questions are vastly different.

Some people might interpret them as the same thing, this is true.

Maybe it's

Re:Huh?

[helix400]

This is essentially the same thing as the usual "Would you vote for X in a race against an unspecified opponent?"

Not at all. Anybody who has taken any course on statistics knows pollsters have to be extremely careful about the wording of the question, and the manner in which it's asked. The wording of the quesion denotes an bias against the person they're polling. This question is obviously done for sensational media reports rather than a true reflection of the population. Plenty of people can s

Hmm....

[FroMan]

To be trite:

"Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not he too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. And he is hound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fat

Re:Hmm....

[pudge]

Simpley (sic) attaining something does not in and of itself determine whether one deserves it.

In this case, it surely does. That is what it means to choose your leaders, that is what it means to have a democracy. The person chosen by the people is the one who deserves to be there.

If you think he is a bad President, that doesn't mean he doesn't mean to be President, it means the people get the President they deserve, good or bad.

America divided

[BWJones]

Perhaps a more useful question would have been "would you vote to reelect Bush?" Regardless, the results from that poll appear to indicate that barely 50% of folks would vote for Bush leading me to wonder if America should reform its political system somewhat. The following quote from this story [cbsnews.com] seems to say it all:

On one level, these phrases simply describe political science data showing the country in a prolonged partisan tie: no president has won 50 percent of the vote in the last three elections; th

Re:America divided

[pudge]

Regardless, the results from that poll appear to indicate that barely 50% of folks would vote for Bush

The results do not indicate that at all. You are assuming that people didn't answer the question literally, as I indicated I would. I would have answered No, I do not think he deserves to be re-elected, despite the fact that I plan to vote for Bush.

Further, even setting aside my interpretation relating to the nature of "deserve," there is another way of reading the question I am quite sure many people

Re:America divided

[OldMiner]

On one level, these phrases simply describe political science data showing the country in a prolonged partisan tie:

A justified statement.

the electorate forms to very equal halves - Two Americas.

The view from someone too into politics to realize that most people aren't.

America does not divide into the vehemently Republican and the vehemently Democrats. There are die hards who will vote Republican and die hards who will vote Democrat. But anyone with a clue knows that "swing voters" are the

Polls

[jamie]

We should let users create polls for their journals... at least make it a var.

Hmmm, but idiots would equate "number of voters in my journals" with their self-worth, and do we really want to do that to people?

Re:Polls

[pudge]

Hmmm, but idiots would equate "number of voters in my journals" with their self-worth, and do we really want to do that to people?

As long as Slashdot doesn't actually report it that way. :-)

Re:Polls

[FroMan]

Oh heck, I'd stuff the ballots to make my friends feel better. ;-)