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Alex Segura's avatar

This was a great read. Thank you.

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Michael Podhorzer's avatar

Thank you!

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Stevens's avatar

So we have media outlets, - like the NYT as mentioned here - use polling results to drive narratives and framing, no matter any flawed methodologies - creating their content from said poll results - yet they are already creating the content - the polls themselves. Got it.

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Denise Donaldson's avatar

Or, as a commenter said a few months ago, the media (most prominently, NY Times) are MAKING the news, NOT reporting it. It's journalistic malpractice of the worst kind.

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Rob steffes's avatar

Silver is a self aggrandizing gambler. Kahn is a poor excuse for an editor of a once great paper and Comey is just a joke.

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Gary S.'s avatar

Mr. Podhorzer, have you considered writing an opinion piece to the New York Times? I especially like your conclusion that the focus on the horse race has consequences in undercoverage of what’s at stake, and this drives too many citizens to view the race as spectators rather than doing something to make a difference. Your observation about James Comey‘s decision-making is particularly salient as well.

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David Roberts's avatar

Nate Silver's 2016 analysis yielded a probability not a prediction. Confusing the two is a basic mathematical error. A 75% probability is equivalent to saying that two coin flips will not both be heads. The probability is correct but the outcome could still be two heads.

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Ann Bassetti's avatar

I find your posts fascinating, albeit it’d be easier to live in the world of magical thinking. Do you have any opinions on what / where / how one can most effectively contribute to the final efforts (beyond contributing $$)? I live in a solidly blue state. I’m currently writing postcards. As we get closer to Election Day, is it effective to go to a swing state and volunteer? Or is it better to donate the money I would spend on such a trip? Are phone calling or door knocking effective? I and many friends have these questions. Do you have perspectives? Thanks.

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Aug 20
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Gary S.'s avatar

Washington Post opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote today that the fight against manipulating election results is one that is distributed across levels of government and descends down to local election boards and officials.

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