elchase

I wonder if everyone in the state would have favored the speed limit (except the 8 of you or course) had it been taken right after the crash of the boat driven by the NHRBA president. It's very surprising that you don't mention that.

You guys are right. I made a mistake and apologize. Sometimes my memory is not perfect. The 83% was Democrats. The percentage of total voters was "only" 78%. Thanks for sending me back to do the research that you guys seem so unable to do.

Now you surely know that you are quoting the first of three polls and the one most favorable to you (even though still hugely unfavorable to you), don't you? You guys complained about the lack of specificity in this question so it was repeated with a more specific 45/25 question and the favorability rose significantly. Then you complained that the sample size was too small (although it was more than statistically sufficient already), so the sample size was increased and the favorability again increased significantly. You guys know all this, but keep quoting the first poll. WHY?
Their June '05 poll asked 600 randomly selected people across NH "Do you favor or oppose a state law placing a 45 miles per hour daytime and 25 miles per hour nighttime speed limit on boats operating on New Hampshire lakes?", to which the response was 63% in favor and 9% opposed. 9 voters favored a speed limit to every one that opposed.
Their February '07 poll asked 2000 randomly selected people across NH "Do you favor or oppose a law that places speed limits on boats on lakes in New Hampshire?". 78% of all voters (R and D) answered in support and only 18% opposed.

You claim to have been a professional statistician and you have to ask this question? Come on. Assuming as I must that you just made that up, if you have to ask this question, did you at least look at the link we discussed yesterday that explains all about the statistical accuracy of polls based on sample size, or do you only read stuff that you know is going to tell you what you want to hear? Did you even try to look into this yourself before you asked this question? Have you ever been to a casino? They must love to see "professional statisticians" like you coming.

A blog? Your resorting to blogs now? Did you google ARG and find a negative result on the tenth page and decide that was good enough to entirely undermine ARG's credibility? Did you even read the blog? Do you know whose blog it is and what his history with ARG's founder is? "Mr. Bennett's attempt to hide a substantial amount of cash from his deceased father's estate that should have been used for the care of his mother, is this sort of individual trustworthy as a head of a polling organization?" Sounds like a hatchet job by a guy with a grudge, no? But just for the sake of argument let's assume this guy is teling the truth...please tell us how Mr. Bennett's family financial dealings disqualify the finding that 78% of NH voters favor a speed limit? Specifically? How is the accuracy of the poll done by his employees undone by Bennett's relationship with his mother?

Do you know anything about polling? Just because Katy Couric and Dan Rather might try to "educate" people before they "poll" them does not mean it is proper. Polls are not meant to "educate", they are meant to measure. ARG did a very accurate job measuring the opinion of Granite Staters on this issue. And based on the rising favorability during a time when the State's newspapers were flooded with discussion on this topic, it's hard to artgue that people did not understand what they were saying.

I looked and looked, but simply can't find where any of the NH voters polled by ARG said this or anything so irrelevant. In fact, it has the intelligence, coherence, and grammar that one would more likely expect from one of you guys. But please tell us again how it relates to this discussion.

No surprise there. But I am surprised you guys are not just giving links to each other's posts to "solidify your positions". Have you thought of that? It makes as much sense.