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It's understandable that people are skeptical of political polls. There were far too many pollsters who blew it in the 2016 presidential election and predicted that Hillary Clinton would coast to victory. I'm certainly more skeptical.
That being said, I find it quite interesting when it comes to all the cries of "fake news" we received when we reported on a poll published in the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday which found that 4 of 10 voters in Michigan questioned President Trump's mental health. On top of that, 53 percent said they had concerns about Trump having access to the nuclear codes.
Some Facebook comments from our readers included:
- Maybe nearly half of the people believe the bullshit put out by this liberal 'site'.
- Another fake news poll. If you ask only libs, it will be 100%
Now, using a little logic, let's see why the poll is not that hard to believe.
In Michigan, Trump won last November by a thin margin of 10,700 votes. He won 47.3% of the votes compared to Hillary Clinton's 47 percent. That means it was pretty close to even. So, is it that hard to believe a poll found that 4 of 10 voters in Michigan are concerned about Trump's sanity, right or wrongly? It seems pretty reflective of the REAL numbers in the general election, not any fakes ones.
In the electoral college nationally, Trump won overwhelmingly, 306 to 232. But he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.
Is it hard to believe that at least half the country doesn't approve of Trump's performance?
People may not always like what they hear or read, but invoking the term "fake news" doesn't automatically mean it isn't so.
Yes, the media has been super aggressive in its coverage of Trump. He has responded repeatedly with the words "fake news" to discredit everything he doesn't like. And yes, the media sometimes messes up and gets it wrong or is unfair.
But invoking the words "fake news" whenever people don't like what they hear or read does little to change the reality.
So sad.
