Revisting the CNN-Opinion poll for the Iowa Caucus we talked about recently, the results confirm what we talked about as far as not being naive about data offered to us.
"First, the Des Moines Register poll shows on the Democrat side that Barack Obama holds a seven-point lead over Hillary Rodham Clinton. On the other hand, a CNN-Opinion poll supposedly reveals that it's basically a tie between Obama and Clinton, with Clinton actually holding a slight lead.
"The differential is too great to simply dismiss them. Someone is playing games with the numbers in an attempt to manipulate the minds of voters."
The original poll by the Des Moines Register, as expected, was proven to be the legitimate and accurate one. It doesn't speak well of the integrity, motives, agenda and capabilities of CNN, which obviously put forth their wishful thinking and what they wanted, rather than a legitimate poll reflecting reality. Clinton ended up losing by 8 percentage points; far beyond the margin of error a quality poll and honest numbers would reveal.
Again, in the digital age we must be extremely cautious about simply accepting the data being made available. Anybody with a personal and private agenda can put forth data not based on what really is. That's what obviously happened here. While CNN may have been trying to do Hillary Clinton a favor, in reality it makes her look worse because of raising expectations based on an illusion.
Anyway, I said I'd get back with this after the Iowa results came in to confirm the numbers were bogus.
The question we need to ask ourselves when gathering information, is what is the motive behind what is being touted as fact. What the answer to that question is should lead us to how we interact with the available data.
Another thing we should do is take in data from a number of sources to ensure it's as accurate and honest as possible.
This whole exercise was to show there are those out there with agendas, and we can't take information at face value any more. Announcing it before it happened was my way of letting you see this truth for yourselves.
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