Edwin Newman and the polls

Edwin Newman was, in days long gone, an award-winning NBC-TV journalist. He was a foreign correspondent, drama critic, edited textbooks on grammar and composition, etc., etc., etc.  With a deadpan expression, wit and erudition, he did all he could to save the English language. He ridiculed news coverage, spoke and wrote of many things. He hosted Saturday Night Live and moderated presidential debates.

Taking a look back at one of his books, I Must Say, written in 1988, I came across something that fits right in with today's political, on-to-the-election, climate.  In September, 1984, he wrote:

Political campaign reporting seems pretty simple these days. It goes like this:
     "The polls say..."
     "The polls show..."
     "According to the polls..."
     "It's still early, but if the polls are anything to go by..."
     "The polls show that if the election were held tomorrow..."
     "That big a lead in the polls can cause overconfidence, so..."
     "The candidate's own pollsters are telling him that...."
     "Polls to be published tomorrow..."
     "The polls show a gap between the candidates of..."
     "He is saying that the only poll that counts is the one on election day, but that may be whistling in the dark, and his own polling organization..."
     "The polls reveal..."
     "That kind of lead in the polls at this stage of the campaign doesn't necessarily mean much, but..."
     "The polls have been wrong before, but...:"
     "An NBC poll just completed gives..."
     "A CBS poll just completed puts...."
     "We commissioned a poll, and the results, while not conclusive, suggest..."
     "Given a margin of error of three percent either way, the poll..."
     "If you take these polls and project them nationally, you find..."
     "Polling is not an exact science, and people can change their minds. All the same..."
     "We put together the poll results of the last two months, and they show a definite trend toward..."
     "The polls show some weakening in the position of..."
     "It's not unknown for front-runners in the polls to be overhauled. Still..."
     "Our polls indicate..."
     "We have polled a number of key districts, and..."
     "If the polls can be trusted..."
     "You might expect him to be discouraged by the polls, but he claims to be confident about the eventual outcome."
     "There is an interesting divergence here between Gallup and Harris."
     "Polling by the candidate's own organization, so his people say, reveals a much more hopeful picture."
     "That big a margin in the polls is almost without precedent."
     "That big a margin in the polls repeats the pattern of..."
     "The polls support that view."
     "The polls show some erosion of the lead hitherto enjoyed by..."
     "There have been some ups and downs, but there hasn't been any really significant change in the polling figures for the last..."
     "The polls themselves may become a factor, as the contest goes down tothe wire."
     "The advantage in the polls continues to rest with..."
    "They believe - at least they say they believe - that as time goes by, the polls will tell a different story."
     "A poll is a snapshot taken at a moment in time. Today's snapshot can be changed by tomorrow. Bearing that in mind, here are the results of our latest..."
     "With the election just six weeks (five weeks) ( four weeks) (three weeks) (two weeks) (a week) off, the polls..."
     "Well, here we are at last, election eve, and as the nation prepares to vote, the polls show..."

                                   And then there is the chapter on the "shelf-life" of polls
                                   I love this guy.

11/3/11