Ottawa

The bravest of talking points

Reacting on CBC this afternoon to the latest polling from Ekos, Conservative Jaime Watt offers offered an altogether profound spin.

So obviously these aren’t numbers that we’d be hoping to see. I think there’s a few explanations for why they are the way they are. First of all, we’ve got an almost three-point margin of error, which would possibly bring those numbers a bit closer.

Indeed. Or, by the very same logic, the gap might be even wider.

Better still, if a poll with a +/- 2.5 percentage point margin of error isn’t to be entirely trusted, perhaps all political polling is to be disqualified. The last similar surveys published, for instance, by Nanos, Ipsos Reid and the Strategic Counsel had margins of 3.3, 2.2 and 3.1 respectively.

This is a remarkable position for a political commentator to take publicly and Watt is surely to be commended on his bravery in doing so. May his rational and reasoned approach to politics be an example to us all.

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