The fucking Times. It follows up yesterday's awful poll with another. That they even asked this question is evidence of the bias--the agenda--in their poll. Who made age an "issue"? The credulous Times falling into the right-wing's projection. This is not journalism. Shameful.

@jeffjarvis So, this is the same poll as yesterday; they are just slowly releasing answers over time and harping on their favorite tune: “Biden is old.” I’d like to point out a big flaw in their poll beyond the chosen questions.

Look at the % of people they polled by population density: 24% city, 41% suburb, 35% rural. The actual population density in America: 31% urban, 55% suburban, 14% rural. They are over-representing rural voters by almost 3 to 1 in this poll. It doesn’t appear they corrected for this at all.

Also, 35% of their respondents are from the “South” region, only 20% from the northeast. Although they don’t specify exactly what that means, this doesn’t appear to be anywhere close to an even distribution.

Finally, 66% of their respondents were white. White people are 57.8% of the population according to the latest census.

In summary, this poll HEAVILY over represents southern rural white voters.

@mls14 @jeffjarvis
Since the President is elected by electoral votes won, not total votes won, I suspect looking at how well the poll captures the electoral vote is more significant than the urban/suburban/rural partition
@PaulWermer @jeffjarvis Ok then, 35% of respondents being from the south is even worse. AZ, GA, MI, NV, PA, WS are the biggest swing states. Only one is in the south region - GA, which has a large black population they undercounted. So thanks for pointing out that these results are even more skewed!
@mls14 @jeffjarvis interesting point. If the election is dependent only on swing states, that really changes how polls should be designed if we want meaningful results, rather than the bs horserace calling we see.
@mls14 @jeffjarvis
Important distinctions, probably too easy to overlook.

@mls14 @jeffjarvis

I stopped believing polls were even trying to be accurate when despite them, the GOP has been taken to the cleaners in most special elections and proposition ballots in swing areas, since Dobbs.

Instead I sit in a corner like this 🤞

@Edelruth @mls14 @jeffjarvis I'm not American, so things may be different over there, but here in Australia it's completely normal for the polls in a by-election (which I *think* is analogous to what you call a special election) to be less reliable than the polling in a nationwide federal election. I wouldn't put *too* much stock in that specific fact.

There may be other factors that make it right to mistrust polling, but I'd say not that one.

@mls14 @jeffjarvis This is real “consent manufacturing go brrrr”

That and the “majority of voters in our poll say Biden is to old” like *they* weren’t the ones who introduced and pushed the idea.

@MisuseCase @mls14 @jeffjarvis it's such a hilarious criticism in this election. Yes, Biden is too old and clearly isn't as mentally sharp as he once was or as one would like a president to be. But Trump is *also* too old, and has shown his mental faculties to be so much worse even over half a decade ago when he was still early in his presidency. If it's a problem for both sides, it doesn't work as an attack against one side.
@mls14 @jeffjarvis Excellent points. Would love do to away with public polls altogether. They are so easily rigged, and without analysis like yours the average person has no idea as to how faulty they are.
The media thrives on polls. They are cheap and easy to conduct. They replace real reporting that would actually educate the public on candidates and issues.
@mls14 @jeffjarvis …….. anything for ratings ………