In the wake of Joe Biden suspending his presidential campaign and Kamala Harris stepping in, everyone was wondering about the polls. Almost immediately, there appeared in the news a Reuters poll and one by Quinnipiac that showed Harris leading Trump. There were 13 other polls, according to Breitbart News, that indicated Trump was well head of Harris. Anywhere from a 2-point to a four-point lead. But even in the Quinnipiac poll, which once analyzed properly showed Trump in the lead, the Quinnipiac news release said that Harris led Trump by a two-point margin. So what and who do you believe when it comes to polls? Just remember a good rule of thumb–that liars figure and figures lie.
One of my favorite Bible verses is a warning from Christ concerning the latter days. It’s found in Matthew 24:4 and says, “Take heed that no man deceive you.” Saying that in the last days, perilous times shall come, the Apostle Paul echoes such a warning in 2 Timothy 3:13, “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” Deception is key to taking well-intended people off the track of what is right and good. To combat deception, we need discernment, which is found in the Holy Scriptures and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We need a lot of wisdom to discern these days. Those wishing to deceive often try to co-opt your support through peer pressure.
For example, various media will be conducting their own polls to show you what America is thinking. ABC, MSNBC, CBS, Washington Post, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Times—these and more will be conducting their “polls” to show you how America will vote. Just as these outlets’ stories are biased and passed off as unbiased news, so too, are their polls. To accurately reflect the political situation, polls must be taken from a random sample; the questions must be asked in a way that do not bias the answer; and there can be no leading of the interviewee in any direction by the one asking the questions. The polls taken by the news organizations rarely follow these criteria. Their samplings are biased toward what they perceive as a larger Democratic base and the questions are slanted to lead the interviewee.
When running a large political campaign, polling data is imperative. Accurate polling data can mean the difference between winning and losing in a tight race. It can provide trends, messaging guidance, issues, demographics and a whole lot more. But it has to be accurate or the entire campaign will be off. So politicians do not use media polls. They hire a polling company to conduct an accurate poll based on a scientifically drawn, unbiased sampling of the voters. The media, admittedly weighs their samplings toward a Democratic bias because they draw more voters from the Democratic voting base. Also, online polls are suspect because it is difficult to verify who is actually giving the information and how many times they are giving it. As this political season intensifies, believing the polls is, say it with me…Stupidocrisy.
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