NEW YORK (NY), APRIL 24, 2018: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D–NY) addresses a rally for the Amazon Labor Union … [+]
Sometimes it’s not always obvious and predictable. Not so evident.
One example? Conducting a poll which challenges your opinion.
A writer from Occupy Democrats recently conducted a tweet poll to find out whether Elon Musk is more trusted than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.
The poll included a comment that said: “Let’s prove how phony the right’s ridiculous polls are by doing one of our own” with the assumption that the results would be obvious. Here’s the poll:
However, the results were quite shocking.
Elon Musk was the winner by more than 81%, with AOC only receiving about 19%. Some comments revealed a lot, as many Twitter users pointed out how inaccurate the voting was or how Elon Musk’s followers tilted favorably.
The poll became somewhat predictable when Elon Musk commented. (The original poster called Elon Musk an affable parody.
These polls, which can be found on Twitter or elsewhere, are becoming a little tiresome. I’ve seen them more and more on LinkedIn, and it always makes me wonder how valid they are since you don’t really know how anyone is finding the poll or who is voting.
I suspect Musk followers did actually flock to this one, given that he has so many hardcore fans, and perhaps AOC fans didn’t even notice.
And then there’s another possibility.
Also, I suspect that people who answered Twitter polls are more tech-oriented and innovative, and would therefore find entrepreneurs to be trustworthy. Especially if they have helped to build several companies or seem to attract many acolytes. AOC has an enormous fan base, but she has not made a mark in tech. It’s possibly the exact opposite, as she tends to downplay and criticize the importance of Big Tech.
Although most of these polls are supposed to be enjoyable, the one that was posted here took an unfortunate turn. The original poster even admitted that it was “a loss” and decided to keep the poll up in his feed.
There was at most 375,000 responses which is quite a large sample. I’ve seen Twitter and LinkedIn polls with only a few hundred responses, which makes you wonder if they were mostly friends of the person conducting the poll.
Are polls a passing fad? This is what I think. The first thing that I think about when I look at the results is the person who decided the words of the questions, as well as who took part in it. Are the results valid?
This poll proves Elon Musk’s popularity, I believe.
