tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1211178771703524664.post4431647949507163778..comments2023-07-18T03:56:39.963-07:00Comments on AlbertaTory: The Red-Green DisasterBRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00022111182127187099noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1211178771703524664.post-78366463778422984332008-01-25T13:10:00.000-08:002008-01-25T13:10:00.000-08:00Blind partisanship at its finest.Blind partisanship at its finest.CHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1211178771703524664.post-44075959930267678182008-01-25T13:56:00.000-08:002008-01-25T13:56:00.000-08:00Interesting in that buried well into the Herald ar...Interesting in that buried well into the Herald article (news article, not Braid's column) is the fact that it was an on-line poll. The Globe & Mail poll earlier this week - which had a much more favourable result for the Tories - was phone-based.<br><br>You're loved... you're hated. These competing polls look like the stock market lately.<br><br>The greatest proportion of non-voting comes from undecided. If you can't even be bothered to come out and vote - when across the world people die just in the attempt - who cares what undecideds think. The Herald/Leger poll included undecideds, the G&M stripped them out. Pretty wide differences in results, as a result.<br><br>But interesting that the gap remains. People don't shower him with undying devotion, but they clearly like Stelmach a lot more than the leader of the supposed "government in waiting", almost 3 to 1. And they see him as more trustworthy than Taft and even Brian Mason, the supposed "man of the people".<br><br>Given Taras' record of prognostication, as a PC I am thankful he passed along the comments he did. As a contra-indicator, he has done well in the past.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1211178771703524664.post-26797394311238173092008-01-25T20:02:00.000-08:002008-01-25T20:02:00.000-08:00Actually, the G&M poll was flawed. The first ...Actually, the G&M poll was flawed. The first question was whether the province (not the government, but the province) was on the right track. Most people generally say that their home is on the right track unless things are really really bad. That explains the ludicrous number of 63% right track vs. 9% wrong track.<br><br>With that question in front, it's pretty hard for anyone who does the poll to respond after that they want a change in government. It's all about structure. The G&M poll was designed in a way that suppressed anti-Tory sentiment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1211178771703524664.post-65292738095588347702008-01-27T11:24:00.000-08:002008-01-27T11:24:00.000-08:00And the Herald poll was likely designed to compel ...And the Herald poll was likely designed to compel anti-Tory sentiment. My wife was the recipient of a phone solicitation for a poll on Alberta politics. As someone with experience in survey methodology (she has a Ph.D in one of the social sciences), she was quite shocked at the leading questions. Order of questions, choice of adjectives embedded in questions... all can be used to solicit a wanted response.<br><br>While you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear, you can make a leather handbag out of it, if you try hard enough.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com