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Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life.

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How not to test public opinion

02/12/2016 GMT

BBC World Service - More or Less, How not to test public opinion

The survey by the Indian PM that breaks all the polling rules.

The survey by the Indian Prime Minister on the withdrawal of some bank notes that breaks all the polling rules.

People took to the streets in India this week to protest about the government’s decision to withdraw R500 R1,000 notes. But despite the uproar the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has insisted he has the support of the people after a survey, carried out on his very own mobile app, found that the decision was supported by more than 90% of respondents.
 
But the whole episode has echoes of the kind of manipulation evident in one particular sketch from the British political sitcom ‘Yes, Prime Minister’. With accusations of leading and confusing questions designed to get a particular outcome one marketing Professor tells us that if anyone had come up with this survey in his marketing class he would fail them.

Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Charlotte McDonald

Image: Protestors burn an effigy of the Prime Minister at a rally in Kolkata. Credit Dibyanshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty

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