Never mind what the latest poll figures show.
Never mind what the plus or minus margin for error is.
Donald Trump’s run to the presidency may not only end up proving them all wrong, but could also portend the end of polls in politics as we well know them.
We all know the deal. We all know when it’s a slow political news day, and that would mean practically all of the days in the year and a half leading up to the presidential election, the 24/7 fake news media cycle constantly leads with the latest poll results.
Studies are not nearly as bad as polls when it comes to misleading the masses spontaneously. Studies at least (at times) are based on data, that while sometimes easily contradicted by later studies on the same subject, can provide insight as to what the best scientific data illuminates at the time they are conducted.
Political polls typically do not feature the control and variable objects that are integral components of a scientific study. Most of the time they are random, robocall phone solicitations that reflect the sentiment of a small sampling of registered voters on any given day.
When I say “any given day,” it’s like the NFL’s well-known axiom: On any given Sunday any team can win.
(Donald Trump &) Melania enter the Oscar de la Renta Fashion Show, New York (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
On any given day, a political poll, no matter it’s plus or minus margin of error, will reflect different outcomes on the same topic, question or subject.
Polls are remnants of the 20th century when telephones were the leading form of technology before personal computers came into vogue during the mid-90s.
Registered voters make up an underwhelming minority of people in the United States. The inability of our citizens to cast their votes online has permitted control of the election process in the country by the establishment elite.
Donald Trump, while probably not the best qualified individual to be president, is focused on the one thing that matters to the American public: Image.
Image is everything according to the old 1990 Canon camera commercial featuring Andre Agassi. Trump understands that Americans care more about the here and now and not what they said or did last week, or even five minutes ago. If you come across as competent or in command now, or presidential, if you will, then, like the polls would suggest (on any given Sunday), you could probably be president now.
Trump is blowing election control out of the water. That Hillary is struggling to maintain her lead in the polls is just, well, ridiculous. She is a political veteran, a lifelong savant of the system, removed from those everyday citizens who’ve never been beholden to those who provide gifts for political favor.
Studies will remain necessity. The problem with studies is the speed at which they take place. It is never fast enough as with the case of the FDA and the new drug approval process.
Polls are nothing more than amusement currently. But their buzz is declining. They still are mostly utilized during slow news cycles, or in conjunction with something outrageous that Trump may have said.
But we are immune to the ramblings of businessmen who would be president, just as we are to what the latest polls reflect.
“Did you hear how Trump has overtaken Hillary in the latest polls?”
No. The latest studies show that people just don’t care about political polls anymore.
