Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Who wants to take on the "Scottish" Daily Express?

As I've pointed out before, it's sensible for bloggers to limit the number of complaints they personally lodge with the press regulator.  However, the "Scottish" Daily Express website has just published another wildly misleading article about Scottish political polling - this time about the seats projection that some random dude on Twitter stupidly applied to a tiny, incorrectly-weighted Scottish subsample from a GB-wide Redfield & Wilton poll.

Now, we know from past experience that the press regulator (a non-independent body essentially run by the press themselves) sets an extremely high threshold to even consider complaints about misleading claims relating to polls.  If there's any convoluted excuse to be made about something being a matter of interpretation, that's deemed to give the publication a free pass to mislead to its heart's content.  So to have a realistic chance of getting a complaint to stick, you need to find a flat-out untruth.  

In spite of the attempts of the Express to cover themselves with caveats about polling methodology, it seems to me there is one particular sentence in the article that may be directly inaccurate.  It's essentially a sub-headline, and states:

"The Scottish section of the poll – although it is based on a weighted sample of 180 people – provides yet more evidence that the Nats are falling behind a resurgent Labour party"

The subsample actually shows the SNP on 34%, three points ahead of Labour, who are on 31%.  I'm struggling to see how that shows evidence that "the Nats are falling behind" Labour.  Presumably the Express would fall back on the incredibly thin excuse of an idiotic seats projection made by a third party, but then they would have to explain the phrase "yet more evidence".  Where is this other considerable evidence that Labour are actually ahead of the SNP?  There's in fact vast evidence from all recent full-scale Scottish polls that the SNP remain well ahead of Labour, both in terms of vote share and projected seats.

Additionally (although I'd put less stress on this point), the "weighted sample of 180 people" did not involve 180 "people" as such.  Only 143 actual people were interviewed for the Scottish subsample, with the results adjusted to count them as if there were 180.  By the time you get to the section of the sample that was used to produce the results reported in the article (ie. once Don't Knows and Won't Votes were stripped out), there were just 121 real people, upweighted to count as 137.

I'm reluctant to lodge a complaint myself, but I do very much feel a complaint is warranted.  So if you'd like to complain to the press regulator about the inaccuracies in the IPSO article, you can find the necessary form HERE.

14 comments:

  1. I'm hoping the SNP actually believe this express "poll" and get scared into doing something for independence for once.

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    1. You have more chance of the DE supporting Independence then you have the SNP doing anything meaningful or without the consent of England, I feel sure Sturgeon's reporting back to Granny in Newcastle.

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  2. WGD numpties really do post some pish. The Bathtub Admiral says:- " It's probably the most important leadership contest ever, and it could be that 45 SNP MPs in another country, determine the fate of Scotland - and the fate of the SNP." This is his take on the Flynn/Thewliss battle. 😂😂😂😂.

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    1. Obama v Clinton had nothing on this.

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    2. It's so important that not all the SNP MPs voted but they expect us to turn up and vote for them at elections. Meanwhile six weeks and counting - no reply to my message to my MP Oswald. Useless and lazy.

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    3. James, the 45 mentioned by the Admiral in his post should be 44 as Grady is now an independent so you are correct - one did not vote. I'm thinking you may not be that keen on Black as the Deputy as she does use a certain swear word which you have previously expressed your distaste for.

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  3. Flynn thinks Blackford is a giant of Scottish independence. Personally, I think he is just a giant Blowhard who will be remembered for declaring far far too often that Scotland will not be taken out of the EU against its will and then doing nothing to prevent it happening. We will see soon enough if Flynn is any better.

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    1. Try criticizing Tories, it would make a pleasant change.

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    2. Lomax - try something that is not a snidey one liner - oh that's right that's your trademark isn't it and it maxes out your intellectual capacity.

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    3. Wow Lomax posts his reply on WGD and it actually consists of 3 lines. That must have tired you out Lomax. Too scared to post it here? Aye hawkeye disnae miss anything you numpties post. It's a public forum - ya numpty.

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  4. BREAKING: New IPSOS Poll today has YES at 56%

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  5. Oh wow-

    "More than half of Scottish voters intend to vote for independence, according to a new poll for STV News.

    Ipsos’ Scottish Political Monitor, run in partnership with STV News, finds support for independence has risen by six points since the last survey in May.

    Based on the voting intentions in the poll, the SNP would win 58 seats at the next UK general election. Scottish Labour would win one seat, while none of the other parties would win any seats in the House of Commons.

    Among those with a voting intention and very likely to vote, 56% say they would vote Yes in an immediate referendum while 44% say they would vote No."

    https://news.stv.tv/scotland/support-for-scottish-independence-rises-to-56-after-supreme-court-ruling-stv-poll

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  6. And if they did win 58 MPs, it would mean Nikla would be emboldened enough to stand up to WM, and demand that they open the door, to begin to discuss the possibility of Scotland being allowed, to perhaps finally get permission to ask it's countrymen and non-men, whether they would like to exist in a country once again. I'm simply ecstatic with excitement.

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