Published on Double X (http://www.doublex.com)
Are Americans Really Sick of Palin?
I'm suspicious of this new poll showing that Americans are tired of hearing about Palin. The Pew poll finds that people follow the health care debate more closely than they follow the news about her. But there are big problems with that kind of statistic, which relies on virtuous self reporting. If I asked you to rank your preference about stories on celebrities, child horror or health care, what would you say?
By: Hanna Rosin
Posted: November 25, 2009 at 4:12 PM
I'm suspicious of this new poll showing that Americans are tired of hearing about Palin [1]. The Pew poll finds that people follow the health care debate more closely than they follow the news about her. But there are big problems with that kind of statistic, which relies on virtuous self reporting. If I asked you to rank your preference about stories on celebrities, child horror or health care, what would you say?
I'm suspicious of this new poll showing that Americans are tired of hearing about Palin [1], and that they follow the health care debate more closely than they follow the news about her. This is a classic in the category of virtuous self reporting, along with studies about diet and exercise. In the study, only 3 percent of Democrats say they paid attention to coverage of Palin's book tour. But there are two big problems with that statistic. One, paying attention to news about Palin's book tour is not the same as paying attention to news about her. People may not even know she has written a book but, as any web site editor can tell you, they will read any story with Palin or Angelina Jolie in the headline. Second, if I asked you to rank your preference about stories on celebrities, child horror or health care, what would you say?
Links:
[1] http://people-press.org/report/567/strong-interest-in-health-care-little-interest-in-palin