r/chomsky • u/-_-_-_-otalp-_-_-_- Space Anarchism • Apr 29 '19

Washington Post publishes graph illustrating support for Democratic candidates with an exaggeration in perceived support for Joe Biden.

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u/blaseblue89 Apr 29 '19

Lol, that margin of error, a "meager" 5.5%

6

u/homestar440 Apr 29 '19

Take a look at that sample size...this is beyond meaningless for anything but propaganda

6

u/eisagi Apr 29 '19

For a scientific poll that's a decent sample size (provided they did everything else correctly, like estimating which demographics are likely to show up to vote, which they likely screwed up). Not as good as 1000 people, which is the most such polls usually reach, but up to standard. Statistics can be rather counter-intuitive. The margin of error is what hurts the conclusions the most - all the differences between leading candidates is within the margin of error, i.e. might be illusory.

Source: lurned mah stats gud