Those of a statistically nervous disposition should look away now

A double triumph in the Mirror today: for Vince Cable and for British journalism.

For Vince Cable – congratulations on another poll putting you the most popular choice for Chancellor (32% versus 23% for Darling and 21% for Osborne).

For British journalism – take a bow at a story that uses phrases such as “plunges” and “it’s all the fault of George Osborne” when in fact the poll results are, er…, not statistically significantly different from the previous poll by that pollster. (The changes are all within the margin of error.)

Perhaps next time we’ll have a footnote, “Hey, the above story may be true. But there’s also a pretty good chance it may not be. But then, when journalists are the least trusted profession in the UK after politicians you probably knew that anyway.”

Read more by or more about , or .
This entry was posted in Polls.
Advert

3 Trackbacks

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • Tom Arms
    I meant to say that the UK supplies the nuclear warheads for its deterrent....
  • Tom Arms
    There are some areas where the US is likely to dominate for a very long time. Space is an obvious one. Ukraine would be up the proverbial creek without America'...
  • Ruth Bright
    @Paul is surely right, do we have age breakdowns for stats on members and active supporters?...
  • Tom Bailey
    Alex Macfie says: "He [Farage], has just seized on one case of supposed “anti-white bias” by the police (the only one available)" So the 3 decades of Brit...
  • Alex Macfie
    @Simon Robinson &c: Please stop pretending Nigel Farage is acting in good faith. He has just seized on one case of supposed "anti-white bias" by the police ...