Ask HN: Can tech solve broken polls?

2 points·mrborgen··3 comments

I'm trying to understand why the polls were so off? Are people lying, or are the polls asking the wrong questions?

Or asking the wrong people?

Is there anyway tech can help solve this?

Polls were off because 1- they're used as an instrument of manipulation to steer the undecided in the "right" direction and 2- as long as telling your opinion might result in violence against you or your property you will never have sincere answers.

As an exterior observer (I'm French living in France) I thought it was "strange" that Clinton's campaign communication sounded scared since she was supposed to win hands down.

Again, some polls were right. Just like after the Brexit. The media just didn't give them any exposure because they weren't following The Narrative.

Maybe we'll finally learn from these polling methodologies. For example, some polls that were right used mostly robot-callers instead of actual human beings to prevent the "shy trumper" phenomenon.

Which ones were right?

Here's a quote from Michael Moore's Trump victory prediction: http://michaelmoore.com/trumpwillwin/

'And because this election is going to come down to just one thing — who drags the most people out of the house and gets them to the polls — Trump right now is in the catbird seat.'

I'm wondering if most polls fail to take the above factor into account.

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