this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2023
50 points (93.1% liked)

Politics

1025 readers
1 users here now

@politics on kbin.social is a magazine to share and discuss current events news, opinion/analysis, videos, or other informative content related to politicians, politics, or policy-making at all levels of governance (federal, state, local), both domestic and international. Members of all political perspectives are welcome here, though we run a tight ship. Community guidelines and submission rules were co-created between the Mod Team and early members of @politics. Please read all community guidelines and submission rules carefully before engaging our magazine.

founded 2 years ago
 

Even though most voters say that the case against the former president is “strong,” they don’t want to see him serving jail time

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] SpezCanLigmaBalls 100 points 1 year ago (5 children)

There is no way that 53% is correct. Is everyone really that fucking dumb

[–] [email protected] 59 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

here's the actual poll

they sampled an incredibly small sample size. It's extremely easy to get fucked up results from assuming that you can make a poll representative of Americans as a whole. Like. where I live... most people in the state want him locked up (or you know. burned at the stake.) But, you go an hour out the cities and even the democrats there would be likely to express some hesitancy. Because it's trump country out there.

and that assumes the poll wasn't meant to get this result (for example polling in ways that get maybe more conservative democrats. or people simply lying and saying they're democrats.)

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Actually the sample size checks out. I love it when people see "Smol number not as big as big number, therefore sample size bad" and I am going to pull a very elitist argument here and say that people at Harvard University likely know more about polling than you do, just saying.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Small sample size is fine when it's representative of the population. Trying to extract nationwide sentiment, a very diverse thing, off a small size is unlikely to be very representative.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Except the numbers work out, and studies have made very very sweeping generalizations based on much smaller sample sizes of much larger demographics (for example the 1 in 5 myth comes from a study that had less than 100 respondents). This study is a dream compared to those.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Just because studies have made sweeping statements, doesn't mean they're right. I could say I've got the longest member I'm the world based on a study I conducted in my basement, but it doesn't change reality.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Where did I say making sweeping statements equals correctness? Man people are getting so emotional over this because it turns out the majority don't agree with them. Guess it shreds the narrative that they're the majority.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

What's the margin of error reported for that question?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not enough people took a statistics class in school and it shows.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I imagine with the safe-spacification of college statistics is no longer a required elective in many programs.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's kind of ironic you've gone from defending Harvard to shitting on colleges in a span of just two comments.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Typically anyone with an anime girl profile pic is going to be a nut job in some way or another.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The fact that people who still do take stats classes likely know what they're talking about is not contradictory to the point that these classes may no longer be required in most degrees. Hope this helps! Try not to blow a head gasket trying to process this info.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

Sounds like someone who definitely went to college and knows the typical graduation requirements

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Dumbest fucking take. Can’t even imagine what was going through your head as you were writing that.

For your own sake, seek out better friends and media.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

56% of Americans think former President Donald Trump should drop out of the 2024 presidential race

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2023-06-16/poll-majority-says-trump-should-drop-out-of-presidential-race

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

A sample size of 2090, as in this study, is large enough to bring the margin of error down to 2%.

Furthermore, there is no need to speculate about who they polled, because this information is available. Questioning the results of the poll is as unreasonable as 2020 Trump supporters questioning every poll that showed Biden with an advantage.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The section that says "Results were weighted for age within gender, region, race/ethnicity, marital status, household size, income,
employment, education, political party, and political ideology where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online." kinda sticks out to me, too.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Yeah, that admission kind of makes me pause when considering the results. There should have been a page of the published poll that better described how this was taken. For instance, doing just a LAN line poll skews poll results considerably.

But it's only the beginning of the fed case against Trump, so I'm sure opinion will change.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

That's how all reputable election polling was done in 2020. For example, if you take a random sample that happens to be 52% men and 48% women, it is completely appropriate to overweight the women's responses to match their actual percentage in the US, 50.5%.

In fact, in the 2020 election there was a bunch of Trump supporters who had the same doubts as you, and they would "unskew" polls with 52% men responding to give them 52% of the final weighting. Lo and behold, their "unskewed" polls showed Trump in the lead. But the proof of the method is in the election results...

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

2090 is not a small sample size.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's a normal sample size for polls. Unfortunately, people are this dumb.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Most polls are conducted with a political agenda, so they don’t really care…. Especially because it’s incredibly uncommon for people to actually look.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean, I tend to bet on the average person's stupidity. So I'd answer yes?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Agreed. This poll is hard to believe. There was another one last week saying a majority agreed with the indictment. There’s lies, dammed lies, and polls.

Take this with a grain of salt. A pollster can come up with any results they want if they ask the question carefully.

This is almost certainly something put out by Trump’s team to manipulate public opinion. It’s bullshit and not worth anyone’s energy.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Harris Polls has been described as " when Harvard Poll meets Fox News" and "cherrypicks to advance agendas". Just like when looking into bias of news sources, it's important to look into the bias of polling sources.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

It's the people they poll. Do you have a landline for them to call? Do you answer calls from randos on your cell?

Me either.

They're polling a bunch of ancient people sitting around watching daytime TV.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'd take this with a grain of salt. Mark Penn, chairman of The Harris Poll and one of three who supervised this poll, is a known Trump supporter who believes in the Democratic "deep state" conspiracy theory. Dritan Nesho, CEO of HarrisX and the second person supervising this poll, tries to appear bipartisan in public, is a little more discreet but is also a Trump supporter. I gave up looking up stuff on these people cuz I feel gross now. Dunno how The Harris Poll and HarrisX are affiliated. Yeah this poll is b.s.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

The Harris Poll and one of three who supervised this poll, is a known Trump supporter

I figured it was something like that. If anybody besides Treason Trump did the things he did, they would already be in jail.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's silly to judge a polling outfit solely on the politics of their CEO.

FWIW, 538 gave Harris a "B" grade with 83% accuracy in 2020. If anything, Harris seemed to overestimate Biden's support (eg they predicted Trump would lose FL and NC).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Their accuracy of their election prediction is separate from their polling bias. I mentioned in a higher comment that their polling technique has been described as "when Harvard Poll meets Fox News" and that they "cherrypick to advance agendas"

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago

In almost every case, ~85% of GOP study participants voted along party lines, whereas only 67% of democrats did... making the "majority" result the GOP-aligned one. I think the extreme nature of identity politics in the last few years especially is really making it hard to take any poll results like this particularly seriously.

[–] Dick_Justice 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

53% is difficult to believe.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Some of that 53% are liberals who fear national unrest if Trump faces consequences. So they are erring on the side of not stirring the crazy assholes.

[–] Dick_Justice 5 points 1 year ago

Probably some of the bOtH sIdEs people as well.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No. He did too much damage and changed laws so he could hurt others and it bit him in the ass. Why should he be pardoned?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

For us to survive as a democracy, he needs to rot in jail.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)
  1. The precedent is that Nixon was pardoned & people cannot wrap their minds around the idea of an ex-president serving a prison sentence.
  2. We are at the beginning of his first criminal prosecution for something other than behavior relating to sex and money. The number of people wanting him to be pardoned is likely to fall as strong evidence is presented, and as he is charged in other venues for additional harm committed against the nation. During the course of his trial(s) more citizens will come to understand how he has endangered the safety of specific individuals serving this country as well as general welfare and security. I imagine there are bombshells yet to be disclosed. Having said all that a certain percentage will never wish to see him behind bars, but I believe a majority will come to believe that it is right.
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Huh. TIL 53% want a different set of rules for the rich and powerful.

[–] pontiffkitchen0 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

“This survey was conducted online within the United States from June 14-15, 2023 among 2,090 registered voters by The Harris Poll and HarrisX. Results were weighted for age within gender, region, race/ethnicity, marital status, household size, income, employment, education, political party, and political ideology where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. The poll was supervised by pollsters: Mark Penn (Chairman, The Harris Poll) Dritan Nesho (CEO, HarrisX) Stephen Ansolabehere (Professor and CAPS Director Emeritus, Harvard University)”

2000 something sample size is pretty small, and the weighted and propensity score is “intriguing”.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

As much as a foundational understanding of statistics would go a long way towards making the average citizen substantially better-informed, stuff like this sometimes makes my shoulders sag in despair. Even if you know the basics, the corrections, weighting, and methodologies used to try and tease the/a 'truth' out of a sample are often so arcane that it feels as though you know nothing at all, and are right back to square zero: do I trust these results at all, or no?

What a mess. I really don't want to believe that a slim majority of Americans want us to go the Nixon route, but it's hard to tell where my suspicion of the methods used begins to blend into bias...

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Prison for the rest of his life, to set a precedent that Nobody is above the law. And that all conmen deserve punishment.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Well I 100% want to see him go to fucking jail.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

It is just one poll. One poll has the same amount of predictive power as a slice of bread.

Also, that being said, polls aren't meant to be predictive, they capture the feelings of the people being polled, at that point in time. Trump's legal woes are just beginning, he's probably got another state indictment in Georgia coming in July and potentially a second from special counsel Jack Smith with regards to January 6th. There is still plenty of time and material to come that will sway people's hearts and minds.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Whenever I see stuff like this, I just feel bad for the millions of people who have been hoodwinked and brainwashed by Fox News.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Regarding President Joe Biden, Trump’s disinformation campaign against him and his son, Hunter, also appears to have taken root in voters’ minds. The majority of respondents, 55 percent, said the FBI is “not really investigating” corruption allegations against Biden while 57 percent believe Biden “took a $5 million bribe” while serving as vice president, despite no evidence of that occurring.

this shows you who they polled.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I haven't seen any reason to trust polling since 2016.

I never get directly asked who I'm voting for in polls, it's always "favorability" bullshit.

I hate all of them, but I'm not voting for fascist or fascist-lite.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

53%? I'm wondering what questions were asked, and how. For example, would they want Trump pardoned if the alternative is being sent to a maximum security prison? Minimum security? House arrest? How many of them understand the seriousness of the charges? Should all people accused of those crimes be pardoned? If not, then why is an ex-President different, and what does that say about our justice system?

load more comments
view more: next ›