Arthur Shaw: Datanalisis has been either converted or perverted...
VHeadline commentarist Arthur Shaw writes: According to Datanalisis -- a bourgeois political research firm of prominence in Venezuela -- "President Hugo Chavez' popularity has slipped and a majority of Venezuelans view the situation in their country negatively." A recent Datanalisis poll found "that 46% [of Venezuelans] responded positively when asked how they view Chavez' presidency, down from 53% a month earlier."
Datanalisis, a polling firm which is widely seem as sympathetic to the bourgeois-led opposition in Venezuela. The firm reported in a pre-February 15, 2009 poll that only 51% of Venezuelans supported the referendum to amend the constitution to allow indefinite re-election of the president and 48% were opposed.
On February 15 this year, about 55% of Venezuelans voted for the constitutional amendment and 43% opposed.
Many observers believed Datanalisis "shaved" its numbers to make the bourgeois-led opposition appear a lot stronger that it was and make the race over the constitutional amendment look closer than it was. Although Datanalisis "shaved" its numbers to help Venezuelan reactionaries on February 15, the firm still showed more professional ethics, as a pollster, than most counter-revolutionary bean-counting firms, because most counter-revolutionary bean-counters predicted the constitutional amendment would lose by as much as 16 points. Datanalisis "shaves" its numbers, but the other counter-revolutionary firms "chop" them.
It really isn't clear whether Datanalisis shaved or chopped its recent numbers that purport to measure Hugo Chavez' popularity. But most likely, Datanalisis has gone from shaving to chopping, for a 7-point drop in one month ... from 53% to 46% in Chavez' alleged popularity ... looks more like a chop than a shave.
More importantly, it isn't clear whether Datanalisis has been converted or perverted by the opposition.
The latter seems morally superior to the former although both are lamentable.
Arthur Shaw
arthur.shaw@vheadline.com
http://www.vheadline.com/shaw
Constitution of the
