Libya Response Poll!

Pollster Blog #2 Ladies and Gentlemen!

My first post was incredibly lack luster, simply because I didnt have much knowledge on the subject of polling at all! Now I am armed with some more information on what goes into a poll including the meaning behind the margin of sampling error and the confidence level. Typically, both of those can be found at the bottom of the polls. It belongs with the usual technical stuff.

Back to Libya though. After all the uproar that is happening in Libya right now, with Ambassador Chris Stevens being killed, the American reaction to Libyan Government and its citizens is, not surprisingly, low. I look to Ramussen Reports this week for a poll on Libya, as suggested by my wonderful professor Dr. Gelbman. The article titled "Just 29% Are Even Somewhat Confident Libya Will Punish Ambassador’s Killers" is pretty short. Did not expect that. However, it does provide one thing that my previous poll did not: the questions they asked. The Ramussen Reports provided a link to the questions so people could see what was asked. Recently, in class, our discussion has been based around nonattitudes and insincerity. A lot of the causes behind both of these stems from the questions, both how they are asked and who is asking.

Another nice point that of interest regarding the Ramussen Reports is by stating how they gathered the information. In this case, it was by an automated survey. They go into more detail about who they poll, how they decide who that is and many other factors. They are much more open and direct about their polling techniques than previous articles. Especially for someone who is trying to learn all they can about the various aspects of polling, this information is incredibly helpful!

See you all next time!