To the editor:

We are, as this letter is being written, seven days out to the election. Every day we are slammed by polls and pundits presenting information. Pundits skew the information based upon which party they favor, and use the latest poll information to tell YOU what the American people are thinking.

WRONG.

The problem with polls is that a good poll requires a large number of the populace, from a wide area of the nation, and include people from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds, political backgrounds, and an equal number of men and women of a wide variety of ages. Then you need the right questions, that are not skewed to the political right or left. Once the answers are obtained, they must be processed using statistics, and here is where the data can be manipulated by the polling company. Usually they are honest. Sometimes they are not.

One problem we are seeing today is that the polls are showing candidates as being +1 or -1 above each other. But where is the error of margin? You know, the + or – number that tells you where the poll really is. Such as “49 +/- 3 % points”, meaning that the candidate could be at 52% or 46% of the poll data?

Look and listen carefully to what is being written or said. Think critically. And then use your own mind to vote.

Please vote. Our nation depends upon it.

Cindy Perouty

Fort Myers