Misleading Headlines, Divisive Rhetoric and Adventures in Statistics

 

You know what they say… lies, *dang* lies and statistics.

So, a little something that got under my skin this morning as I looked at some of the trending topics on FB. Trump, of course, is on the list.  I imagine he is feeling pretty proud of himself that he is the topic of conversation across the country.  After all, I imagine that is his goal every morning – to be at the center of everything.  Well, that’s his goal after he spends time delicately placing each hair in the right place.

I’ll say at the outset, I’m not a fan of Trump. I don’t know much about his politics, so this has nothing to do with politics.  I certainly respect the guy for funding his own campaign, but that’s about it.  Ever since Katie and I watched The Apprentice, I just couldn’t stand watching him; especially once they started with Celebrity Apprentice.  The thing that bothered me the most is that he has such a huge ego.  It wouldn’t surprise me if he did think the universe revolved around him because of the massive size of his ego.  If nothing else, there are definitely some satellites orbiting his head on a daily basis.  He is such an ego-maniac that he makes Tyra Banks look humble… clearly, I’ve been around too much “reality” TV in the past several years.  Anyhoo!

Politically, I do think he has said a lot of things lately that is playing on the fears of people, and that is why he is gaining popularity.  I think it is a misguided and misplaced popularity, and I’m not sure I want to live in a world where his ideology, pardon the pun, trumps common sense and decency towards other people.  However, all that being said, this headline bothered me:

The national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed 57 percent of all adults are against the plan, while among Republicans, 42 percent support Trump’s proposal to ban U.S. entry to Muslims.

As I’ve said before, I’m not really into politics all that much. I read/hear the headlines, and that’s about it. I don’t get involved. I don’t read a lot of articles. But one thing that does bother me is the obvious divisions that people are trying to cause when it comes to politics. Let’s think about this headline for a moment:

57% of adults are against Trump’s plan to ban entry into the U.S. for Muslims.  That means, then that 43% are in favor of it, right?  Am I doing the math right on this one?  That means 43% of ALL adults are in favor of banning Muslims from entering the country.

Yet, the second part of the headline feels compelled to tell us that 42% of Republicans – did you get that? REPUBLICANS – are in favor of it.  I feel like the headline was generated with the express purpose of making us upset that Republicans are in favor of this ban.  Except, what that means is that 58% are NOT in favor of it.  That’s a HIGHER percentage than the percentage of ALL ADULTS!!

The headline could have easily read: “57% of all adults are against the plan, while among Republicans, 58% are against Trump’s proposal.”  You know what?  It says the EXACT SAME THING as the headline that was printed.

This is the kind of political “reporting” that is doing nothing to help the divides in our society.  Clearly it is anything but unbiased.  Now, is what they said untrue?  No, it’s not.  But how many times have I heard, “It’s not what you said, it how you said it”?

And for the record, yes, it would have bothered me just as much if it pointed out that 42% of Democrats were in favor of his plan as well – which is probably the case since 43% of ALL ADULTS do.