A poll is a snapshot, capturing a moment in time. A still image, and a blurry one at that. The margin of error (usually around three percent) means the picture isn’t always crystal clear. The margin of error can also tempt newspapers, hungry for exciting headlines, to pump up a statistically insignificant gain or loss in… Continue reading Snapshots, moving pictures, and unknowns
Tag: Opinion Polls
Poll positions
Fine Gael senator Catherine Noone writes about a phone poll of local councillors attitudes: “Two-thirds of Councillors from the two Government parties would support changes to the Croke Park Agreement, according to this survey carried out by my office. A total of 529 City and County Councillors responded to the phone poll, with 56% of… Continue reading Poll positions
Quantum Satis
Imagine a politician released research proving their arguments on a point of public controversy. Imagine every journalist in Ireland knew the research was faulty. Let’s go further. Imagine the paper looked like a work of fiction, and it appeared the academics who carried out the research did not exist. There’d be uproar, right? Pat Kenny… Continue reading Quantum Satis
Polls, snapshots and moving pictures
According to the latest RedC/SBP poll, the Fianna Fáil vote is at 16%, down one percent from the last poll in December, right? Well, not quite. Reading the small print, there’s a three percent margin of error. RedC is 95% certain Fianna Fáil support is somewhere between 13% and 19%. And they were 95% certain… Continue reading Polls, snapshots and moving pictures
Rock Bottom
Anyone seeking for a metaphor for all that is wrong with Ireland at the moment need look no farther than the Dublin docklands. There, you will find the proposed new headquarters for Anglo Irish Bank, a building planned in happier days, before the bank imploded and was nationalised. A government strapped for cash as tax… Continue reading Rock Bottom
Just One Ireland
Fianna Fáil has the support of one in five voters, if the latest Irish Times poll is to be believed. Labour are three points ahead of them, and Fine Gael lead the pack with 36%. Independents are supported by one in ten, Sinn Féin by one in twelve, and the Greens by only 3%, a… Continue reading Just One Ireland
Euorvoting
Declan Ganley must be wondering where it all went wrong. A year ago, Libertas seemed unstoppable. But it’s a party in name only, without grassroots membership, unable even to supply a copy of its constitution (I know, I asked). Libertas is in trouble. Caroline Simons is statistically invisible in Dublin, Ray O’Malley barely registers in… Continue reading Euorvoting
Leading the Charge
If I was Enda Kenny, I’d be worried. He rescued his party from political oblivion in 2002, bringing them back from 31 to 51 seats in 2007. Thanks in part to Biffo’s cluelessness, he now finds himself at the head of a party with 38% support in the latest poll, about to deliver a historic… Continue reading Leading the Charge
Any Colour You Like
The Lisbon treaty is officially back in the news. An Irish Times poll today shows a change in ‘public attitudes since June with 43 per cent now saying they would vote Yes, 39 per cent No and 18 per cent having no opinion.’ But the pro-treaty side shouldn’t celebrate just quite yet. the Irish Times… Continue reading Any Colour You Like
Poll Dancing
Brian Cowen must be wondering where it all went wrong. Support for his government and party have slumped to a record low, according a TNS MRBI opinion poll to be published in the Irish Times tomorrow. The polls confirms findings in a Red C poll commissioned by the Sunday Business Post a couple of weeks… Continue reading Poll Dancing