The following two opinion polls were analyzed and compared: a poll by the Pew organization on the topic of external electoral expenditure and a poll by the Rasmussen organization on the constituency. Before proceeding with a comparison or analysis, it is necessary to identify the property in question for both because it will allow the analysis of aspects such as adequate sample size and methodologies with respect to the question, which will allow any discrepancies to emerge. These discrepancies will constitute evidence to support the conclusion regarding the strength of one survey over the other. The property in question for the Pew survey measures public knowledge about the growth in the amount of money spent by outside campaign groups (Super PAC's) on elections. In the Rasmussen poll, the property in question measures sentiment toward the idea of eliminating the Electoral College to make the popular vote the sole method of choosing a president of the United States. Both are political topics, but the approach each took in collecting data was different. Here is some data provided by the organizations. The sample size for the Pew survey was a group of 1,010 adults living in the United States, with the sample population coming from people who have a landline or cell phone number in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The sample size for the Rasmussen poll was a collection of 1,000 “likely voters,” with the sample population drawn from a pool of landline telephone numbers and online surveys. The sample size used by both organizations is large enough to avoid any haste according to Table 10-1(354), where a sample of 1,000 produces a margin error of approximately plus or minus… half the paper… ...ling or the results. The sample was sufficient enough to avoid any haste or weak generalisations, and the process by which data was collected was completely random in terms of selecting a balanced and equal number of participants. The target population was the general American public, and these methods appear to accurately reflect the characteristics of the target audience. With the techniques conducted by Rasmussen it becomes possible for prejudices to creep in. The main problem comes with online surveys because, despite being sent to a specific group of people, the number of those who decided to participate or if it was correct one person cannot be out of the control of the pollsters, which is one of the aspects. The target population for this, therefore, active voters in the United States, becomes more difficult to connect due to the lack of randomly selected participants..
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