ABCnews.com poll today

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

abcnews online is conducting a poll on their website. As of now 11:15 am 60% of people voting say no worries about Y2K. At this time some 11,000 people have voted. Just FYI.

-- Sharon in Texas (sking@drought-ridden.com), February 23, 1999

Answers

I forgot to add a really interesting one though. 3.4% say they will empty their bank accounts. Hmmm...

-- Sharon in Texas (sking@drought-ridden.com), February 23, 1999.

There's ANOTHER 27% of respondees that are preparing.

Is there a statistician in the house?

-- lisa (love@em.polls), February 23, 1999.


Duh...

Also, on the ABCnews.com site at the bottom under technology, a new government report card. It looks like everyone is doing much better, more A's this time. If I just didn't have this nagging feeling that we are being lied to...

-- Scatterbrained Sharon in Texas (sking@drought-ridden.com), February 23, 1999.


Sharon, didn't mean that how it sounded! I'm comparing the "who's prepping" figures to another poll reported in the Austin "paper" - it's under pshannon's tidbit thread du jour.

I meant we need a statistician to extrapolate this recurring 27% figure onto the population at large........that is, if 27% ADMIT to the need, what percentage IS preparing but NOT admitting to it?

Would NEVER insult a fellow Texan!!! Sorry how that looked!

-- Lisa (lisa@work.today), February 23, 1999.


Actually, as of 12:35 pm EST, 19.1% of the respondents are planning to take ALL of their money out of the banks (15.5% doing all things listed, plus another 3.6% planning on taking all their money out). Doesn't sound too reassuring for the banking system.

I'd be willing to bet that at least part of the 60% who aren't worried now will start worrying when they see the 19% lined up in front of their bank waiting to get cash. How many of the 60% do you think will get in line with them then???

-- Nabi Davidson (nabi7@yahoo.com), February 23, 1999.



Lisa,

No offense taken! I didn't think you were insulting me at all. I was referring to the fact that I can't seem to do things all at one time. I posted the note about the poll before I read down at the bottom of the page about the government report card, so I had to come back to the thread and post another note. If I had been paying attention I could have done it all at once. Some days I am not very efficient I'm afraid. Hope all is well with you, I have been enjoying your posts!

-- Sharon in Texas (Sking@drought-ridden.com), February 23, 1999.


Number one I don't trust polls.

Namely because of some farsical idea that 75% of the population likes slick Willy? Where the hell do they get these numbers. Oh that is right, 75% of the people that actually voted likes him. But of those who voted only 35% of the entire population had been surveyed and they were all Democrats loyal to his infernal majesty. Polls are just not accurate if they show anything useful. Any conspiracy theorists would agree.

Number B, government report cards? Who the hell are they trying to sell that little spin to? Soccer Moms and Weekend Warriors? Grade school teachers? Even though *my predictions for y2K run only about 1.5 average I'm still not dumb enough to think the departments of government can be summed up in a grade system from A to F. I mean, who the hell thinks this stuff up? It is sort of reminiscent of that recent survey post that was asking people to respond to date related questions with a 1-10 answer. And even if those report cards were even capable of having some accuracy to them it's clear that the DOT has gotten an F rating. Oops power is on but the trains don't work. My guess is that the next time you see a "government report card" it will be mostly A's and B's regardless of the truth.

My question is if you can give the government a report card than can you also suspend it for insubordination? Lord knows I had to swallow that wrap enough times in my report card era.

I think it's only fit that if they want to be graded like children then we treat them like children. Take away their toys, you know?

-- (AES2010@aol.com), February 23, 1999.


Statistics, of course, tries to describe a "population" (in this case, US Citizens), by taking a "random sample". If the sample is not truly "random", you have "bias".

Internet polls are "biased", at a minimum in that:

True statistical studies "live & die" by the quality of their sampling. Bias in a sample invalidates the study...

...unless you are in sales or politics.

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@anonymous.com), February 23, 1999.


True, Anonymous99, but these ABC.COM numbers are consistent with TELEPHONE poll figures, which gives me reason to hope...

Need to look at old polls and analyze the rate at which the prepping percentages are increasing over time..... public Y2K-getting-it, to me, is geometric.

-- Lisa (kajh@asdjh.jhs), February 23, 1999.


I'd be willing to bet that at least part of the 60% who aren't worried now will start worrying when they see the 19% lined up in front of their bank waiting to get cash. How many of the 60% do you think will get in line with them then???

-- Nabi Davidson

If only it were true, Nabi. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people in this country don't have a clue about fractional reserve banking, and what 19% withdrawing their cash would mean.

-- Online2Much (hard@work._), February 23, 1999.



But I'll bet the news media will tell them when the runs start. They LOVE bad news:-)...

-- Nabi Davidson (nabi7@yahoo.com), February 23, 1999.

AES -

The Federal report card serves a very useful function: communicating vital information in a succinct and easily-understood form. One might just as well say that communicating project status as "Green", "Yellow", or "Red" is equally juvenile. However ones does it, this method allows everyone to review overall program (defined as a collection of projects with similar goals) progress and determine where additional attention is needed.

"Report card" is an easily understood metaphor and has helped to focus Federal efforts where they're needed. Unfortunately, some of the "students" (who were self-reporting their progress) have been reporting incorrect information (read, "they lied") and others just haven't applied themselves until recently. Too bad: finals are coming up in a few months. Gives a whole new meaing to "Hell Week", don't it?

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.com), February 23, 1999.


If true, MANY will die!

-- Scotty (BLehman202@aol.com), February 23, 1999.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ