Question

MSNBC conducts a poll during their 1:00 pm news show. People are asked to give their opinion about the president’s tax policy and and whether or not they are currently employed. Based on these results, MSNBC reports that 75% of people are unemployed and want immediate increase in unemployment benefits.

Should these results be trusted? Why or why not? Are there any confounding variables?

Answer 1

The resulst from the poll suggest that 75% of people wish a change in tax policy are unemployed and therefore want unemployment ebenfit. Since the results are more than half , by majority they should be trusted.

Confounding variables are the external variables that effect both the dependent as well as the independent variable in question. There can be a number of confounding variables like reason for unemployment, biasedness towards ruling party that might influence the decision of polls.