The XX Factor : polls

Becoming Pro-Life

Emily Bazelon — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:25:00 GMT

I’ve been mulling the responses I got, via email and comments , to my question about why a recent Gallup poll might show a seven point jump in the percentage of people who define themselves as prolife (from 44 percent last year to 51 percent this year)....(read more)

More in the Annals of Joe Biden Statements

Meghan O'Rourke — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:10:00 GMT

So, news outlets reported that yesterday Joe Biden told fundraisers in Seattle that in the next six months an international crisis would "test" Barack Obama just as one had tested Kennedy. According to reports, Biden told supporters: "The world is looking....(read more)

More on the Conservative Shake-Up

Juliet Lapidos — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:39:00 GMT

I'm not at all convinced that Obama's lead is safe, and I think that the positive poll numbers of late could result in liberal complacency on Election Day. But what's indisputable is that Obama's apparent advantage, and the Palin pick, are creating fissures...(read more)

Polls and Palin

Dahlia Lithwick — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:33:00 GMT

A guest post from Slate 's and The Big Money 's Jim Ledbetter: The Sarah Palin narrative is incomplete and will likely remain so even after her speech tonight. Nonetheless, I perceive a nagging gap between the way the media is so far discussing her candidacy...(read more)

Send Them to Irkutsk

Anne Applebaum — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:26:00 GMT

No, not the politicians' spouses who can't keep away from prostitutes .... Before it gets forgotten in a flood of Big Beaver jokes, I wanted to pick up on what Juliet wrote: I saw that BBC poll about world-perceptions-of-America too, and reckoned it was...(read more)

The World Hates America a Little Less

Juliet Lapidos — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:16:00 GMT

When I saw the headline " America's Global Image Stops Sinking in a Poll " on the New York Times Lede blog, I clicked on it eagerly, expecting (because I'm gullible) some moderate to good news. Sadly, the poll—a worldwide survey conducted by the BBC and...(read more)

Change Is Good. Polls Are Caca.

Melinda Henneberger — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:11:00 GMT

Every year for Lent, I give up speaking ill of anyone. It is a long 40 days, and it begins today. (I mention this so that if it seems like I've had my brain removed, no, I haven't, and I will be back to my old critical self before you can say mortification...(read more)

The More Electable Candidate

Juliet Lapidos — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:49:00 GMT

It's become a commonplace assumption that Barack Obama would fare better than Hillary Clinton in a general election—that he's the more "electable" candidate. But a new poll shows no discernible difference between the two. Either candidate would trounce...(read more)

Overselling Reason

Juliet Lapidos — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:42:00 GMT

With all this confusing chatter about Iowa polling numbers (seems like every poll says something different, except when you account for the margin of error, in which case they all say the same thing: "Who knows!"), I think it's worth pointing out that...(read more)