Commentary: Dilbert guy's economic poll on McCain, Obama

[TrogL]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/16/dilbert.economy/index.html



This summer I found myself wishing someone would give voters useful and unbiased information about which candidate has the best plans for the economy.

Then I realized that I am someone, which is both inconvenient and expensive. So for once I asked not what my country could do for me.

At considerable personal expense, I commissioned a survey of over 500 economists, drawn from a subset of the members of the American Economic Association, a nonpolitical group, some of whose members had agreed in advance to be surveyed on economic questions.

...

Overall, 59 percent of our economists say Obama would be best for the economy long term, with 31 percent picking McCain, and 8 percent saying there would be no difference.

We can't know the degree of bias in our survey group. But we have some clues. On the issue of international trade, only 42 percent of our Democratic economists support Obama's plans, with 34 percent favoring McCain. Independents favored McCain on this question by 63 percent to 16 percent, while favoring Obama overall.



The article breaks it down in considerable detail.

[dccrossman]

1. Be sure to note Scott Adams' bias

His bias is pretty clear from reading the article as well. He also notes that more of the economists self-identified as Democrats than Repugs.