Another phony poll?
The flipside of failing to question numbers is assuming that anyone who does question them is correct (from US journalism/editing blog headsup)
Hence, even though in this case it’s an out-and-out lie, “another phony poll” doesn’t just resonate around the echo chamber; it puts a bug in the grownup world’s ear too. It looks like what journalism is supposed to be doing. Polls are suspect anyway (being based on data, which is inferior to gut feelings and news sense), and catching a fake one is a triumph of the common man over the spinmeisters
Thomas Lumley (@tslumley) is Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Auckland. His research interests include semiparametric models, survey sampling, statistical computing, foundations of statistics, and whatever methodological problems his medical collaborators come up with. He also blogs at Biased and Inefficient See all posts by Thomas Lumley »