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CNN has new poll up

Thundar

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Sep 12, 2007
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Newport News, Virginia, USA
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On Monday morning (10/15) the results with over 6000 responses were 96% agree and 4% disagree.

The question:

Like it or not, guns exist and we have the right to own them. It's time we stop blaming guns and start blaming the people holding them. Do you agree or disagree?
 

UTOC-45-44

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Morgan, Utah, USA
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Like it or not, guns exist and we have the right to own them. It's time we stop blaming guns and start blaming the people holding them. Do you agree or disagree?



I Agree
96%
6052

I Disagree
4%
233

Total Votes: 6285

This is not a scientific poll


var qv_submitted;
function qvSubmitVote(poll_id) { qv_submitted = poll_id;document.getElementById('qv_poll_' + poll_id).submit();qviFrameCheck(poll_id); }
function qviFrameCheck(poll_id) { if(qv_submitted == poll_id) { qvGetResults(poll_id); } }
function qvGetResults(poll_id) { var qv_results_ajax = new Ajax.Updater('cnnQV_Content_' + poll_id, '/POLLSERVER/results/virtual/' + poll_id, {asynchronous:true}); document.getElementById('cnnQVote').className = "cnnQVResult"; }
 

DreQo

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Minnesota
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Voted. I'll admit that I'm surprised how one-sided the opinion seems to be there. Pleasantly so, but so none the less.
 

DreQo

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I like the way the question is worded. "Like it or not..." calls on BOTH the pro and anti-gun types, then"...guns exist and we have the right to own them." states a fact with no room for argument.
 

HankT

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Invisible Mode
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DreQo wrote:
I like the way the question is worded. "Like it or not..." calls on BOTH the pro and anti-gun types, then"...guns exist and we have the right to own them." states a fact with no room for argument.


Like it or not, guns exist and we have the right to own them. It's time we stop blaming guns and start blaming the people holding them. Do you agree or disagree?



The wording is OK in the sense thatit forces the issue for the respondent. It is a fact that "guns exist and we have the right to own them," sure.

But the survey question contains two embedded fallacies:

1. the either/or fallacy--the wording implies that it's either blame the guns orblame the criminal users. There is no logical reason why one couldn't reasonably blame both.

2. thechoice to "start blaming" the criminal users presupposes that the criminals are not being blamed now. This is a challengeable assumption and really, is very strained. Even confirmed scairdy cat libbers are already blaming the criminal gun users. And, of course, it is a trivial matter for non-libbers: they cannot "start blaming" the criminals. They already to.

Overall, the survey item is very weak. It won't produce any information. It's the drafting of totally inexperienced survey writer and it's easily challengeable.

Then, of course, the respondents are highly unlikely to the result of a random sample so there is no defense against a critique of non-response bias. Therefore there can be no generalizability of the poll.

The qualifier of "This is not a scientific poll" is both accurate and somewhat humorous. Such polls are not only not scientific, they are useless for anything other than fun, casual and inherently biaseddiscussions. They have no validity, no reliability. That's why we all just pick the polls for which we like the results...and ignore the polls that have results that we don't like. It's a little game we all play...
 

Doug Huffman

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Jun 9, 2006
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Washington Island, across Death's Door, Wisconsin,
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Rule by polls or democracy is the rule of fools by fools. Let's not be any greater fools than we must be.

The conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.

Either we are equal or we are not. Good people ought to be armed where they will, with sits and guns and the truth. NRA/GOP KMA$$
 
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