Public Opinion Polls Encourage Polarization In Today's Political Climate

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Polling has had a rough 20 years or so, taking flak from all sides, at various times, for any number of alleged sins.  Most polls have been the object of such derision. Now it’s the turn of the top-ranked  New York Times/Siena College poll that showed Joe Biden trailing Donald Trump.

As with any poll, it is vital to remember they are snaps shots in time of the audience the pollster surveys. They are not self-fulfilling prophecies.

But when a poll rubs cheerleaders for either Team Red or Team Blue the wrong way – showing, for example, that voters have real concerns about Joe Biden’s age – that Team will be up in arms about how the poll is illegitimate, and the news organization sponsoring it is undermining the election/its integrity/democracy itself.

And right on cue, the purple-faced rage at the Times and the poll erupts. As CNN’s Oliver Darcy writes:

That poll touched off a torrent of angry commentary directed at the outlet, with some readers even declaring on social media that they had decided to cancel their subscriptions.

“That they even asked this question is evidence of the bias — the agenda — in their poll,” Jeff Jarvis, the Leonard Tow Professor of Journalism Innovation at the CUNY Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, posted on Threads. “Who made age an ‘issue’? The credulous Times falling into the right-wing’s projection. This is not journalism. Shameful.”

Shameful? The good professor protests far too much. But he sounds positively measured compared to others, who insist that the Times needs a watchdog to curtail its power over the rest of us.

This all seems fairly off-kilter. To the point of absurdity. But it also has a faint ring of familiarity….

…ah yes. Back in 2012, Republicans were convinced, beyond any doubt, that polling was intentionally skewed against them. There was a full-fledged effort to “unskew” the polls in an attempt to show what the “real” data looked like. 

In the end, all that “unskewing” did was serve as a footnote in the long history of people refusing to admit there might be truths out there that don’t bolster their worldview.

And to be fair, there are those on the left who, in 2016, said a handful polls that showed Donald Trump might defeat Hillary Clinton in a squeaker were “total bullshit.”

That aged poorly. And the molten hot takes about the Times/Siena poll are likely to mold and fester, too. Not necessarily because they are wrong about the poll’s findings. But, they are far too agitated at this stage of the presidential campaign. 

A much better critique of the Times/Siena poll? It’s national in scope, surveys registered voters, and hit the wires in March.

It is a very broad poll of voters looking at a race that has months to go. The data will change, and the issues will, too. And as for those braying for the Times’ scalp? Those folks really, honestly, need to get outside and touch grass.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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