The "surprise" Election of Republican Donald J. Trump illustrates the blushingly wrong-way predictions via political polls, mainstream media and Stock Market Analysts, notes Grumpy Editor.
The question now: will folks believe them next time?
Polls were way off base. A prime example is Reuters. In late August, a Reuters/Ipsos poll proclaims Democrat Hillary Clinton, in winning key swing states, would have "a 95 percent chance of beating" Trump. Then in newspapers on election day, a Reuters/Ipsos story trumpets "Clinton has about a 90 percent chance of defeating" Trump in the race for the White House.
Pollsters, in attempting to recover their blunders, claim their jobs are more difficult now because people are changing how they communicate, with cell phones taking the lead over land lines and the internet.
Meanwhile, key media, including most TV news outlets, simply got it wrong along with their political pundits, losing touch with many Americans. Right through election day they had Clinton riding a comfortable victory over Trump.
Pre-election predictions by most stock market analysts warned that with a Trump victory there would be a collapse in share prices. Instead, the Dow industrials jumped 257 points the day after the elections and wound up the week in new high territory, with the Dow at 18847.65 points.
Believability will be a difficult effort for pollsters, key media and stock market analysts the next time around.
Associated Press got into the act, too, in updating its Stylebook's political terms, mentioning not to refer to the husband of Hillary Clinton as “first gentleman” in the White House but simply “former President Clinton.”
IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...
Washington is slow in revealing that the four people killed Saturday inside Bagram Airfield north of Kabul, Afghanistan were Americans --- two service members and two contractors. Sixteen other U.S. service members were injured when a man wearing a suicide vest detonated himself. The event didn’t get major headlines in the U.S…Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., the New York Times’ publisher, appeals to readers for their continued support, promising the paper would “reflect” on its coverage of this year’s election while rededicating itself to reporting on “America and the world” honestly…Got to double check those CNNMoney headlines on the web. On Thursday, one read: People Magazine has come under fire by readers after publishing a cover featuring President-elect, Donald Trump. Then down in the seventh paragraph the “coming under fire” is attributed to “several of People's readers took to social media to claim they would be boycotting the magazine”…A Rasmussen Reports survey finds that, when asked to choose from a list of factors, 27 percent of likely voters say the character of the candidates was most important to their vote this year. Nearly as many --- 23 percent --- say the economy/jobs was most important, followed by national security and the war on terror at 15 percent while 13 percent say fiscal issues such as taxes, government spending and business regulation as most important…As what happened with the Chicago Tribune in 1948 when its headline incorrectly read: DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN, a Turkish newspaper mistakenly called the election result for Hillary Clinton early Wednesday. Tabloid Posta’s front page headline read "CLINTON PRESIDENT"…Police in Brisbane, Australian in searching the zippered canvas bag of a 50-year-old woman who was being arrested, find a three-pound baby koala. She tells police she had been caring for the animal since she found it the prior day. Police named him Alfred...General Motors plans to lay off 2,000 employees at two U.S. auto plants early next year.
Remember this when ordering a hamburger:
Today is National Pickle Day.
