So says at least one person, per this article from Jim Galloway in the AJC’s Political Insider.
Mark Twain divided falsehoods into three categories: Lies, damned lies, and statistics. Had he lived to see them, Twain might have added a fourth: Public opinion polls.
Atlanta has two political polling firms that routinely tell us who is ahead this race or that, whether for mayor of Atlanta or governor.
Front-running candidates often use numbers generated by these companies to raise campaign cash. Journalists sometimes use the same statistics to help determine which candidates are worth their time.
One of these survey companies, Republican-oriented Strategic Visions LLC, has just finished a very bad week.
The firm was censured by a national organization of pollsters. And Nate Silver, a prominent political statistician, publicly suggested, in a series of posts on his much-read blog, fivethirtyeight.com, that Strategic Vision might be making up its results.
A clearly exhausted David Johnson, CEO of seven-year-old Strategic Vision, on Friday called the intimations libelous. “We categorically deny it. And yes, we are going to be taking legal action,” he said.
Now, that article doesn’t say anything about Ox in any way – only the primary polling firm that he has been using to claim his “front runner” status – including one email the day AFTER Jim originally broke this story. Indeed, I joined Ox’s mailing list on May 10, and since then I received at least one email per month beginning in June that specifically quoted a poll by this polling firm as “proof” that Ox was at the head of the pack.
So a liar of a candidate is using data from a firm that “might be making up its results” (a quote from the article above) as his “proof” of his claims of being a “front runner”.
Interesting indeed…
Oh, and about that denial: If there was nothing there, why are they all of a sudden beginning to release what they’ve previously considered “proprietary secrets” after this story comes out when they’ve refused to do so more more than a year before this story broke? Furthermore, at least one other candidate, Jeremy Jones, commented on the entry I quoted for this article and said that “I know it can’t be true” regarding the numbers that this firm had given HIMSELF!
Hows this for a poll – I quizzed my friends and clients about their thoughts on John Oxendine and the results are in. Most all agree on the following … 1} Oxendine never saw, or refused a sleazy campaign contribution he wouldnt wet his pants over, especially if its from an insurance company.., 2} Were all outraged that he probably still draws a salary from Georgias taxpayers while campaigning relentlessly, does the man ever work? … 3} He proves Global Warming is for real. His campaign is having a meltdown due to all his hot air, and last of all,.. 4} we just dont trust the man. But thats just our opinion.