How Did the Beulah D1 Townhall Audience Feel About Various Topics?

Instant "Polling" of a town hall audience:

Yes, it is probably completely unscientific.

Yes, it is probably not statistically valid at all.

Nevertheless--It does give me a sense of where those that are concerned about local issues are leaning on particular topics of interest to District 1 Escambia County Residents.  

And there are some striking commonalities between the audience responses in both of my recent town halls.  

--100% agreement on term limits for all politicians.  

--100% agreement on Sheriff as person who should run the jail.  

--100% agreement on economic development as a valuable function of the county commission.  

--100% DISAGREEMENT on the statement that "The Pensacola News Journal"  is in step with our community's values....

Lots of areas of agreement.

So, even with the structural shortcomings of such an instant opinion poll--there is value in it and there is a viewpoint that I glean from these sessions.

With that in mind-----see the below sheet for how the residents at the Beulah town hall last night felt on each topic:

Baked Mackerel with Yellow Squash OR...... Strawberry Shortcake?

Someone recently sent me something from a social media site that was amusing. 

It was purported to be a "Poll."

The funny thing about polls is that depending upon how they are administered and depending upon how they are worded-- they can be used to push the respondent one way or another, depending upon what the pollster's actual desired outcome is.  It is called a Push Poll.  They are used frequently in politics.

Once administered just the way the pollster wants it he/she can then proudly exclaim  "See, look at these numbers!"  This obviously means "X!" (which oftentimes also, conveniently, aligns with what the "pollster" wants.....)

The audience sampled is also key.

I served on the school board for a long time, before that I spent some time teaching at the 2nd and 3rd grade level.  I coached youth sports and raised three children, so I spent some time in schools around students.  I know how kids think. 

So Imagine if I conducted this sort of a poll at the lunchroom full of elementary school students:

"Attention students, which would you prefer to eat today?"

A. Baked Spanish Mackerel with Yellow Squash

or

B. Strawberry Shortcake

Of course we know what that answer would be. 

But the value of the conclusions drawn are distorted.  Although I personally don't like Mackerel ( I use it as bait for Striped Marlin when I go deep sea fishing in Cabo ) --there are many people that love Mackerel. 

If I asked the very same question above of a group of 30-something low-carb fitness fanatics--would the results be the same as the results from the elementary school students?

(Answer:  of course not)