What Majority? or A Mighty Sample Size!

Politics News Article | Reuters.com: “Amid continuing violence in Iraq and questions about the justification for the war, 54 percent of the 1,005 Americans polled said it was a mistake to send U.S. troops into Iraq, compared with 41 percent who held that view three weeks ago.”

What a great article! The headline reads that THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS NOW CALL IRAQ WAR A MISTAKE. Of course when we get to the paragraph that you aren’t supposed to read, it says they polled 1005 Americans. Now with the Millions of Americans at large, One Thousand and 5 Americans have captured the headlines.

I guess I’m just concerned on the size of the sample. That’s like a presidential election with a +/- margin of error of 10%. In this America, anyone’s guess is good. Didn’t less votes decide the US Presidency? Maybe that should be considered adequate sample size.

I’m always amazed at “opinion polls” and what they aren’t saying. That seems just as important as what they are saying.