British public wrong about nearly everything?

[namealot]

They needed a survey to tell them that?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...t-nearly-everything-survey-shows-8697821.html

 

[PaulGregory]

From the article: "How can you develop good policy when public perceptions can be so out of kilter with the evidence?"

Don't let the public develop policy.

 

[Murray]

phone survey of 1,015 people aged 16 to 75

Not too surprising there would be such different opinions when asking such a small number and over such broad an age range.

 

[Aegean]

When I was back home for a visit last year, a good friend of mine Dave said " I dont know how you can live over there in Europe". I asked him why, and he started telling me things about Europe and the EU which annoyed him, such as straight bananas, fisherman having to wear hairnets, etc etc. Basically everything he said was bollox made up by the Sun. He's actually never been out of Britain. How narrow minded, hes a good pal but his anti-european views really irritate me! Especially when they are nonsense!

 

[PaulGregory]

@Murray I think the point is that their guesstimates weren't all very different from each other, they were different from the truth.

On a wider point, if you ask people to guess a percentage, they'll rarely give you a fraction of one percent.

 

[retired_member32]

actually benefit fraud is greater than reported, they are pulling data from the ONS, which is a government body, JSA was fragmented a very long time ago, Migrants are not shown on JSA, neither are people on social security or one of the many disability allowances, our unemployment rate is higher than most of Europe, all statistics are made to look better than they actually are, Pensions are rolled into one because they can say "look how much money we are putting into the pot" and its a vote winner, reporting actual unemployment rates will rattle the electorate thus lost votes

we have 4 million that are of working age but never worked.

 

[PaulGregory]

actually benefit fraud is greater than reported

all statistics are made to look better than they actually are

The article refers to an official estimate of benefit fraud being 70p in every £100; the people surveyed averaged a guess of £24.

The official estimate will not be 100% accurate (the clue is in the word "estimate") but the public perception is clearly out of line with reality.

There are a lot of genuine benefit claims. They greatly outweigh the fraudulent, not by a factor of 3 to 1 (by value) as those surveyed thought, but closer to 99 to 1.
0.7% is still a lot of fraud though, because there are a lot of people.

Are you seriously saying you trust the public perception figure more than the official figure? If so, is this based on anything more than perception?

 

[Murray]

@Murray I think the point is that their guesstimates weren't all very different from each other, they were different from the truth.

On a wider point, if you ask people to guess a percentage, they'll rarely give you a fraction of one percent.

Indeed, but I would expect maybe some age groups to have more of an idea than others, and if the ones who are wrong are wildly wrong it would cast the whole thing off since such a small number were asked. I wouldn't expect a 16 year old to know much about any real world issue.

I must say Paul, you are a spicy one

 

[FWSJay]

The public are told what they know by the papers and TV. Hence, no one has a clue whats going on unless they actually look for themselves.

Reasons for not looking into things;
a) they're too tired after work
b) why would they think the info is wrong in the first place?
c) its boring (compared to celeb scandal)
d) They don't want to know

The media, imo, is just there to distract from real info that really affects the public.

 

[dashu1]

Take a look at a Peters map of the world and you'll see just how wrong most of us are about everything.

When our view of the planet is seriously skewed there's not much hope for anything else.

 

[retired_member32]

well the figures at the job centre are fluffed for a start, I know big chief and he say bad things

ask yourself why would a government tell you the real story ? is it in there interest to say the unemployment level is currently sitting at 18%, would you vote for them ?

ask your local MP ? ask him to give you it in writing ?

there are a lot of stats out there that contradict each other

 

[GreyWing]

The benefit statement thing is a joke, because it is comprised of pensions, which most people wouldn't automatically think of as a benefit. Pensions actually make up something like 65% of benefits, or some crazily high figure.

If they were just checking the figure for "claimed" benefits and excluded pensions, that figure that people think about would be a lot more accurate.

 

[retired_member32]

anyway Graeme what do you know

your far too busy hunting Lesley to keep up with current affairs