Is it just me...
...or have we reached the point where there are so many different polls, saying so many different things, all at once, that it now feels relatively pointless to pay much attention at all, to any of them?
When I think back on, for example, 1996, it seems like there would be a new Clinton vs. Dole poll coming out, oh, maybe once a week. So each poll was a big news story, seemed legitimately important in its own right, and really shaped public perception of the campaign.
Flash forward 12 years, and it seems like there are a half-dozen new polls out every day, often revealing conflicting insights about the supposed state of the race. Maybe true polling junkies and professionals can sort it all out and glean something meaningful from it, but for most people, myself included, I feel like the glut of information just turns everything into noise.
When I think back on, for example, 1996, it seems like there would be a new Clinton vs. Dole poll coming out, oh, maybe once a week. So each poll was a big news story, seemed legitimately important in its own right, and really shaped public perception of the campaign.
Flash forward 12 years, and it seems like there are a half-dozen new polls out every day, often revealing conflicting insights about the supposed state of the race. Maybe true polling junkies and professionals can sort it all out and glean something meaningful from it, but for most people, myself included, I feel like the glut of information just turns everything into noise.
posted by Brendan Loy at
7/29/2008 12:20:00 PM
