Lies, Darned Lies, and Statistics

Mark Twain once said "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." I am about to prove him right.


Stephanie Condon at http://www.cbsnews.com/ wrote an article about a poll last night concerning Obama's approval rating, but they did so in a way to confuse the untrained eye:

"Sixty percent of Democrats called passing the bill a major accomplishment for Mr. Obama while 59 percent of Republicans said it would not be an accomplishment at all. Independents were split, with 40 percent calling it a major accomplishment and 42 percent saying it would not be an accomplishment."

Now let's "unpack that," shall we? The article says that 60% of Hypocrats--I mean Democrats called the bill an "accomplishment." (An accomplishment for what? But that's another matter.) Fifty-nine percent of Republicans said it was a flop. So translated into a sentence where we can make a legitimate comparison, 60% of Democrats for, but 41% of Republicans for. Forty percent of Democrats against, 59% of Republicans against. The left-wing media is trying to manipulate the way you perceive this data. Your eye catches the "60%" and "59%" statistics, but only upon careful review does it note that 60 are for and 59 against.

Then again, maybe it's just me.