2025-08-28T10:41:35Ztag:sursumcorda.salemsattic.com,2018:/isso/thread/post/was-it-just-a-publicity-stunt-after-alltag:sursumcorda.salemsattic.com,2018:/isso/1604/52002025-08-28T10:41:35ZSursumCorda<p>Great story! It reminds me of pollster Rich Baris (The People's Pundit), who deserves a post in his own right. I like him, despite his deplorable potty mouth, because it appears that for him, accuracy in polling is not a job but an obsession. To put it succinctly,</p> <p>Rich Baris : polling :: Johnny Montroll : origami.</p> <p>For months before the last presidential election, Baris was warning of inaccuracies in the major polls. (His own numbers, which told a different story from theirs, proved to be remarkably predictive.)</p> <p>It is difficult to be unbiased in your surveys, particularly if you (and/or the people paying you) have a strong interest in the results. Because momentum is such a strong factor in an election, it is all too easy to care more about getting the poll results you are looking for than about discovering the truth. Hence you ignore, or downplay, segments of the population you think don't matter. <em>Why bother about the Amish? They don't vote anyway.</em> And then they do....</p> <p>I'm not quoting Baris there, just my impression of some of his points. I haven't heard enough from him to be precise. But he wouldn't have made the mistake of only surveying Pepsi fans about a potential Coke replacement!</p>tag:sursumcorda.salemsattic.com,2018:/isso/1604/51992025-08-28T03:25:28ZKathy Lewis<p>One of my students at Oswego, many years ago, had previously worked in marketing. She told me an interesting back-story about the New Coke fiasco. Apparently Coke decided that it wanted to lure Pepsi drinkers to switch to Coke. So they developed a new formula they tried out on a large sample of soda drinkers. The sample overwhelmingly preferred the New Coke. But the sample had been intentionally chosen to be Pepsi fans. So the Pepsi fans preferred the New Coke. But they neglected to ask their loyal Coke fans!</p>