We live in a media age. At any time, we are able to access news at our fingertips. Think about how often you are exposed to statistics—for example, your favorite news station says a politician has a...

We live in a media age. At any time, we are able to access news at our fingertips. Think about how often you are exposed to statistics—for example, your favorite news station says a politician has a 47% approval rating. How are these numbers calculated? How might such a statistic influence our perception of that politician?

Read the following article from the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan organization which conducts polls to analyze views on US policy. According to their research, 2504 adults were polled their opinion of national institutions. Their political affiliation was also collected during the survey.

For this week, please consider the following questions:

• How did Pew Research collect their data? Why is it important to share how they collected their data?


• Do you think the 2504 candidates are representative of the entire US population? Why or why not?


• Can we apply the findings of this study to people in general? Should we assume that these findings are unqualified truths about everyone who registers with a particular political affiliation?