- cross-posted to:
- politicsunfiltered
- politics
- cross-posted to:
- politicsunfiltered
- politics
“Asked how many members of the House of Reps there were, Stein guessed 600-some before hosts corrected her.”
“Asked how many members of the House of Reps there were, Stein guessed 600-some before hosts corrected her.”
Your test analogy kind of proves the point, though. Say you have a 10 question test and 8 are very easy, and the last 2 are very difficult. In general, if you’ve done your homework, you should get most of the first 8. Whether or not you get a really good grade will depend more on the last 2. I think both parties are guilty of assuming they’ll get the first 8 correct no problem, but there is a tactically sound reason to focus on the last 2.
I’d argue they focus too little on the first 8 and too much on the last 2. Both would be an error in analysis of course.
Also it runs the risk of people applying statistics to individual cases, or groups too small to be statistically relevant.
I agree with you - and that’s why gerrymandering is a problem, because it makes the last 2 questions more valuable to study for. As for statistics, that’s for pollsters and analysts to work on.
If everyone knows gerrymandering is bad, why is it still allowed to happen?
Because a good chunk of the population doesn’t understand what it is and why it’s bad, and a serious percentage of politicians benefit from it.