----- Original Message ----- From: "Alberto Monteiro" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Brin-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2001 5:14 PM Subject: Re: Tragedy in Israel
> > Dan Minette wrote: > > > >But, its not just that. A poll was taken among Palestinians, and 65% > >supported the terrorist attacks. > > > I know you love statistics :-) but polls are *not* a good method for > decision-making. > The question I was adressing was whether the terrorist bombings reflected a few individuals on the margins of society. When you couple this with the deliberate release of terrorists by Arafat a year ago, and the political power Hammas and other organizations that sponsor these bombings are now getting, it is reasonable to assume that there is majority support for the terrorist attacks in Palestine. > Probably a poll among USAers would make 95% of them wishing to > nuke Bora-Bora O:-) > Polls are a pretty good reflection of public sentiment on issues that they have thought about for a while. Thus, candidates that favor those issues that have 70% approval in public polls have a greater liklyhood to be elected than those who oppose them. Exceptions occure when the public has a lightly considered opinion...those can change on a dime, and when there are a number of issues in a political platform, with a minority being unpopular and a majority being popular. Dan M.
