EDITORIAL – Elections just won’t be the same without public opinion polls

THERE’S AN old joke that 82.6 percent of statistics are made up on the spot.

Toss that one out at a dinner party or a coffee klatch and see how many get it.

Truth is, stats have power. Talk about whether a corporation is doing well or poorly and it means little, but announce the latest quarterly numbers for earnings-before-interest-taxation-depreciation-and-amortization, and you’re well into MBA country.

Same thing for public opinion polls. Was a time when they gave us an honest-to-god snapshot of what people were thinking on a given day, especially during election campaigns.

Well, that was then, this is now. Election polls may as well be made up on the spot.

Click here to read more of Mel Rothenburger’s editorial. Contact him at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.