woman sings "black national anthem" instead of star spangled banner.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by 12thMan

I guess my real frustration has been how the media have sliced and diced the polls so much that it's all about race, gender, and class. And I don't like it. Yes, there is some redeemable value even in the most ridiculous poll I may disagree with. I just don't care for the larger narrative that the media tends to portray using this data - that is America is divided.

I'd agree that the media tends to use this information incorrectly. For one, I don't think the media has enough statistics experts to properly interpret data. Hardly any of them can explain what the margin of error really means.

But the bigger problem is they tend to push the notion that the nation is divided, as you say, because it fuels an "us vs them" mindset amongst the viewers. And that can be riveting, so they sell newspapers and ad space.

I think I'm on the same page as you. There are a ton of redeeming uses for breaking polls down by demographic. Unfortunately the media misses almost all of them.