question: what do you think of a politician who fashions a position based on poll results. i am not talking about changing a previously held belief, but rather a situation where the Pol had no strong opinion. should polls enter into the picture?
Any politician that bases a decision upon polls is a raving lunatic and should be barred from office.
It has been proven theoretically and empirically that polls are essentially meaningless.
Look at presidential polls right up to the election time, they're only about 50% accurate - and that is exactly the rate you would expect with a coin toss.
question: what do you think of a politician who fashions a position based on poll results. i am not talking about changing a previously held belief, but rather a situation where the Pol had no strong opinion. should polls enter into the picture?
I think a good politician should have strong beliefs before getting into politics. And if you don't have one on some issue, read up on the matter and then decide where you stand.
Public polls can be manipulated time and time again, and I wouldn't trust my political career on such garbage. I wouldn't expect anyone else to do it, either. Look at Kerry--he lived (and figuratively) died relying on polls. I certainly don't want someone like that in any official capacity, regardless of party or politics.
but, theoretically, the politician works for you...shouldn't he take the public's view into account, if he (or she) doesn't have a strong opinion?
No, politicians represent the public. We choose them ahead of time based on their politics, not pick someone and then try to get him/her to make decisions on the fly.
most "issues" polls have proven to be empirically accurate reflections of the public's views on major issues...e.g. abortion, gun control, etc.
OH I beg to differ, and you have to define "emperically accurate"....... If I take a poll of 10,000 people in the U.S. on an issue, how do I prove that it truly reflects 290Million opinons?
Plus you have the problem with wording of the issue's question... The choices of answers... demographics.... income... education....
An excellent example which I alluded to a few weeks ago is the Unemployment data from the BLS. They swore up and down the pike that their data sample of 60,000 homes was accurate to within 2% -- THEY SWORE THIS.
Now they backtracked and said their methodology is horribly flawed.
Polls are useless. Plus many people lie on them to give the answer they think the pollsters want to hear.
No, politicians represent the public. We choose them ahead of time based on their politics, not pick someone and then try to get him/her to make decisions on the fly.
many elected officials start out local (school board, alderman, township supervisor) and deal only with local issues. as they move up to state or national-level government races, they are confronted with issues (gun control being one that comes to mind) that simply were not relevent on a local basis.
many elected officials start out local (school board, alderman, township supervisor) and deal only with local issues. as they move up to state or national-level government races, they are confronted with issues (gun control being one that comes to mind) that simply were not relevent on a local basis.
Come on, boysda. All I do is type 'Ctrl-P' for a living, and somehow I manage to have an opinion on everything.
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