I don't believe in Polls!

I Don’t believe in Polls!!!

We keep hearing that the Polls say this, the Polls show that, and my favorite, “The majority of Americans believe …(fill in)… according to the Polls.” 

We are bombarded by Polls, we have Gallup, Harris, NORC, Pew, CBS, NBC, FOX News, CNN, Rasmussen and on and on and on. There are Liberal Polls, Conservative Polls, Government and Private Polls, Polls everywhere all telling US what we think and what we want. 

FYI, Polls will paint the picture the Poll takers want you to see. WHAT????

The latest Gallup poll from Jan. 5-8, 2015 titled “American’s Personal and U.S. Satisfaction on the Upswing” tells us that “Americans' satisfaction with the way things are going in their personal lives has recovered to 85%”. Wow, I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel that at all but the Poll says so, so it must be true, right?

Let’s look at the facts about the “Poll”:

Gallup’s report says the following at the end of the report (yeah, you want to read ALL of the report!): “Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Jan. 5-8, 201(5), on the Gallup U.S. Daily survey, with a random sample of 804 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.” (Note: the date was erroneously written in the report as 2014, a typo I’m sure since the dates on the charts show 2015).

The numbers polled have always been a sore spot for me. Here, we are told that a total of 804 adults aged 18 and older were polled, 804. The Population of the US is around 317 million of which approximately 76.7% are 18 years old and up or 243,139,000 people (US Census Bureau). So, out of 243,139,000 adults, Gallup polled 804 people, that’s 0.000331% of the entire population of 18 or older (1% would be 2,431,390 people).

Let’s look at the Poll results: 

The Poll tells us that 85% of Americans are satisfied, wow 85%! Well, not so fast Gallup, 85% of the totaled polled (804) is 683 people, that’s only 0.000281% of the populace 18 and up. So because 683 people say they are satisfied, even though 243,138,196 people didn't get asked, the poll implies that 85% of all of us are happy-happy-happy.

How can they tell us that 85% of ALL of us are satisfied with the way things are going based on what 0.000281% of us say???

I know, blah, blah, blah, so what? The point is this: Polls can paint a FALSE picture; any poll will show you what the Poll takers want you to see or think you need to see depending on their agenda. Remember this, when you read that according to this or that Poll, so and so is leading the pack and "America" says this is the guy they want for President.

Research and think for yourself, don't let anyone's Poll tell you how to think.