In Reply to: The example posted by Miguel on June 12, 2004 at 15:28:55:
Something of interest is that some of the "professional polls" lean towards certain parties. One of the most well known is the Gallup Poll, whose top admins are very conservative. How does this affect poll results? It is all in the wording. Many times polls are used to influence people without their awareness. Questions can be worded in ways to elicit a certain response from the majority of those being polled. Polls are often paid for and created by politial parties.
As far as statistics go, I think it is like history. Statistics are valid according to the statistician and the group they examined. An example would be that while most protestant conservative groups would be largely pro-Republican, there are groups that fit the definition of believing in Jesus as the son of God and in salvation that are primarily democratic. This varies by country too. There are so many variables that it would be easy to take a given set of "facts" and state a case for just about anything. Berg did that with the bible.
I believe that one of the greatest freedoms is the right to have differing opinions and differing political and social persuasions without having to call each other "wrong" or "right". The important thing as Shakespeare said, and imo, is to be true to yourself.