Question
Near the end of a US cable news show, the host invited viewers to respond to a poll on the show’s website that asked, “Do you support the new federal policy discussed during the show?” At the end of the show, the host reported that 28% responded “Yes,” and 70% responded “No.” Which of the following best explains why the results are unlikely to represent the sentiments of the population of the United States?
- The percentages do not add up to 100%, so any possible conclusions from the poll are invalid.
- Those who responded to the poll were not a random sample of the population of the United States.
- There were not 50% “Yes” responses and 50% “No” responses.
- The show did not allow viewers enough time to respond to the poll.
The correct answer is: Those who responded to the poll were not a random sample of the population of the United States.
In the above situation, the people who responded to the poll are not random. Because the people who responded to the poll are the viewers of that tv show only. This does not represent the decision of all peoples of the united states but the viewers of that tv show.
- Final Answer:
Correct option.
Option B. Those who responded to the poll were not a random sample of the population of the United States.
Those who responded to the pool were not a random sample of the population of the United States. Moreover, because the people were watching a US cable news show, it could not have been very objective. Thus the majority of those watching it shared the same political bias. Therefore, the program's viewers might need to accurately represent the entire American populace.
Getting highly responsive is not something that has any percentage of yes or no responses because what we're trying to find out is how people feel about it. So having 50-50 people is not a condition that the show needed to allow more time to respond to the information. So we need to know the time taken to respond to the pool and what percentage of people were at a discount.
