More interesting stuff.

jd50ae

perkinke

"there are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics." This is one of those things when you know the methods you can tell how it gets skewed. Most of these polls are still conducted via semi-random calls via land line. What age segment is the only one that still has landlines? Typically 60 and over so polls like this are typically going to skew more conservative than a properly conducted poll over the internet (yes, it can be done right, and I'm not talking about the ones in the sidebars of CNN or your local paper) or other methods (Brookings itself has done studies on its methods, which is where I read this conclusion). So a more realistic conclusion for this poll is "25% of people WHO HAVE LANDLINES trust Fox News most."

My agency is beginning some polling so I had to study this to bolster our arguments for different methods to conduct our research, difficult considering our decision makers are of the older generation and haven't done any public outreach/research in over a decade, back when landline polling still had validity.

jd50ae

Oh, I definitely agree there is some "skewing" going on. I mean how the hell could msnbc get even 5%.

The3Stogies

jd50ae:

Oh, I definitely agree there is some "skewing" going on. I mean how the hell could msnbc get even 5%.

Think they meant 5 viewers not 5%.

I watch Fox most of the time myself, let me say they don't call it FoxNews for nothing either.

webmost

perkinke:

"there are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics." This is one of those things when you know the methods you can tell how it gets skewed. Most of these polls are still conducted via semi-random calls via land line. What age segment is the only one that still has landlines? Typically 60 and over so polls like this are typically going to skew more conservative than a properly conducted poll over the internet (yes, it can be done right, and I'm not talking about the ones in the sidebars of CNN or your local paper) or other methods (Brookings itself has done studies on its methods, which is where I read this conclusion). So a more realistic conclusion for this poll is "25% of people WHO HAVE LANDLINES trust Fox News most."

My agency is beginning some polling so I had to study this to bolster our arguments for different methods to conduct our research, difficult considering our decision makers are of the older generation and haven't done any public outreach/research in over a decade, back when landline polling still had validity.

Where does it say that's how it's done? Am I missing something?

On the other hand, how often do they ever say "and this is how it was done"?

raisindot

Even though the Brookings Institute is a conservative think-tank, and the methodology could be suspect depending on how the poll was conducted (i.e., perhaps more conservatives were more likely to consent to answer such a poll than liberals, or perhaps more conservatives were at home to pick up the phone, and certainly comparing one show (Stewart) to a network isn't fair--the response should have been Comedy Central to encompass Colbert as well).

Even with this potential survey bias, I still overall find the findings believable. Conservatives are far more likely to trust TV networks (FOX, CNBC) that support their point of view than liberals, who are far more likely to seek news from non-TV sources (newspapers, NPR, the Huffington Post, blogs) and aren't fiercely aligned to a particular TV network the way conservatives are with FOX. I watch MSNBC and Stewart occasionally (my wife watches it to help her go to sleep), but I wouldn't define them at "trusted" new sources--for me, I'd choose the daily newspaper or CNN.com or the BBC site over TV news anytime.

Of course, another flaw of this survey is that it only mentions TV news--if it had mentioned NPR I'll make a bet NPR would have been right up there among the trusted sources, since we pledge-bag liberals just love NPR.

And let's face it--given the huge numbers of conservatives in the country and their loyalty to FOX news, it still got "only" 25%. Hardly a ringing endorsement.

pelirrojo

This graph looks like a boob, a lumpy one, but a boob none the less, if you use your imagination. However, height is in centimeters so it may be just one of those crazy Euro-boobs. Now that is interesting.

jd50ae

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/05/survey_bias_how_can_we_trust_opinion_polls_when_so_few_people_respond_.html

http://america-wherewestand.org/surveys.html

http://national.deseretnews.com/article/1660/Food-fight-Poll-reports-few-believe-school-lunches-should-be-federally-regulated.html

Beaker38

i think they got it messed up. to me its like the opposite except Daily show would be first then MSNBC...

jd50ae

Beaker38:

i think they got it messed up. to me its like the opposite except Daily show would be first then MSNBC...

ROTF and LMAO

phobicsquirrel

lol, I could agree with that to a point. Seems every where I go Fox News is playing so maybe. Cnn is also a big one as well. I wish news was what it use to be and get rid of all these "shows".

jgibv

not really a fair survey IMO, since they're comparing fruit to apples to granny smiths.

i mean come on, of the 6 choices there are:
2 broad categories (broadcast news, public television)
3 specific channels (faux news, cnn, msnbc)
1 specific show (daily show)

If anything let's compare the broad categories: cable tv news, broadcast tv news, radio, newspapers
Or only specific channels: fox, cnn, nbc, cbs, pbs, comedy central
Or only specific shows: o'reilly, abc world news, daily show, etc.

raisindot:

Of course, another flaw of this survey is that it only mentions TV news--if it had mentioned NPR I'll make a bet NPR would have been right up there among the trusted sources, since we pledge-bag liberals just love NPR.

Don't forget PBS, those loonie liberals just love PBS, that's why obama has cut so many back room deals with them to spread his message and pbs is just rolling in the $$$ dough ..... ;-)
/sarcasm

raisindot

jgibv:

Don't forget PBS, those loonie liberals just love PBS, that's why obama has cut so many back room deals with them to spread his message and pbs is just rolling in the $$$ dough ..... ;-)
/sarcasm

Nah. We liberals don't watch news stuff on PBS anymore...we've got MSNBC for that. All we watch on PBS these days is Downton Abbey and the never-ending Peter Paul & Mary, Kingston Trio and Yanni concerts.

SleevePlz

Makes sense. Didn't someone recently start a thread about the general overall idiocy of the American people? Seems if we took a poll of those same people, Fox News would come out on top