Don’t believe everything you read

Except stuff you read here! Believe it all!

One of the first things I read this morning as I was going through my feeds was this headline: “Trump Leads All Democrats Nationally.” The reaction in my head went something like “Whaaaat?” I was immediately skeptical.

The poll was from SurveyUSA and the first thing I did was click through to drill down on the methodology and demographics of the poll. I am a skeptical person by nature, and when I read something that doesn’t jibe with what I’m seeing in reality, I need to dig a little deeper.

Sure enough, a few things jumped out at me right away. First, the vast majority of those polled were polled via landlines rather than cell phones. Younger, more liberal people rarely have both landlines and cell phones, so the poll is skewed as far as age and ideology right there.

The second thing was that the vast majority of people polled were from the South. The second-most polled was the West, followed by the Midwest, with the least amount in the Northeast.

Finally, 40% of the respondents made $80,000 per year or more; 36% made $40-80,000; only 24% made less than $40,000.

I believe this is a very flawed poll in its makeup of respondents. What is most bothersome to me is that the headline is very misleading and does not give the full picture. Unfortunately, there are very few people who will take the time to dig deeper and learn more.

Stay skeptical, Citizens.