Quote:
Originally Posted by 12thMan
But Schneed some independent group polled a total of 1,000 women and the media, namely MSNBC, took off and ran with the results as if it had some legitimacy.
What's the real value in polling 1,000 women from the burbs and drawing some conclusion about the larger electorate? None.
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Oh yeah, goes without saying that if you're trying to use a poll like that to draw conclusions about the larger electorate, you've got no idea what you're doing. So if that was MSNBC's intent, they're being retards, unless they're able to put it into context within overall state populations. But a poll like that does tell you how Obama is faring amongst a certain part of the population, which can indicate which messages he may push ahead with in the coming weeks/months. It also highlights the issues that are most important to certain parts of the population. For example, the working class and the poor are going to have a totally different set of priorities than the affluent.
You can also use these polls to examine historical data. Historically, there has been a very strong correlation between the candidate picked by certain demographic groups and the winning candidate. If you establish that historical correlation, you essentially establish that demographic as a swing vote. Polling that group can then be a helpful barometer for the upcoming election, provided you put the proper context around it.