Polls and Pollsters

We had an interesting FB exchange today on the subject of Frank Lunz, pollster, and questions about his motives and honesty.

Someone had posted a video clip featuring Frank Lunz, framed as if he were being interviewed by FoxNews, which, it turns out, is only partially true. Careful editing makes the clip into a lie, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Frank Lunz is a pollster who is often featured on Fox News. The video clip embedded above in ---'s comment is a profane attack on all polling - especially Lunz, portraying him as an uber-liar. Actually they portray Lunz making the true statement that polling can be skewed to achieve the results that you want. He is not advocating doing that, but the way the video is assembled it seems to be catching Lunz in a candid admission that he is a criminal. Get Real! That is not what the interview was all about in the first place! He was explaining the intricacies of polling, and some enemy edited it to make it seem that he was "telling all" and admitting to some dark secret of poll manipulation. A candid viewing of the video turns up a number of clues that Lunz was not admitting to doctoring his polls.

It takes special skill to avoid getting the result that you simply "want" to portray, and instead to get to what the people polled really think about a particular subject. It is the difference between a scientific poll and propaganda; between honesty and a lie.

Don’t believe the lie that there is no such a thing as accurate polling. We just need to understand that it is a tough job to come up with accurate results. Lunz is a good guy. So is Rasmussen. I trust them. I don't trust the propagandizers who published the video. The point of the video clip is to "prove" that Lunz is in the tank for dollars or worse. I do not believe that is true.

The author of the clip is not Fox news (something that might fool you as you begin to watch it), but someone who hates conservatism in general. Draw your own conclusions.

I have not read Lunz’ book, but he is not the demon that the video clip portrays. He is trying to use polling to indentify general trends using scientific methods. I think we owe him a “vote” of thanks, not vilification for his efforts.