What is a way to write this sentence so that it’s easier to understand? October 30th, 2008
The impact of this phenomenon renders worthless the public opinion polls used to handicap some races featuring Black candidates challenging Whites.
How about making 2 sentences:
The accuracy of public opinion polls is diminished due to this phenomenon. The result is that polls tend to handicap minority candidates and challenge caucasion candidates.
can i be your pet?
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:43 pm
That’s understandable enough. There’s nothing wrong with it.
I maybe if you want you could use a different word than ‘handicap’, I’d use the word ‘impede’ but keep everything else the same.
References :
cw21dlr
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:47 pm
This phenomenon challenges the validity of public opinion polls in assessing the likely winner of political races featuring both black and white candidates.
Edit: Looking at the above answer, I believe by "handicap" you are meaning handicapping a race (as you would a horserace), i.e. predicting the winner. Therefore, in your sentence, impede would not be a good substitute for handicap, as the word impede means to interfere or slow the progress of something, and I don't think that is what you are trying to put across in this phrase. I believe you are trying to say the polls "guesstimate" the outcome of the race.
References :
ready2so
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:49 pm
How about making 2 sentences:
The accuracy of public opinion polls is diminished due to this phenomenon. The result is that polls tend to handicap minority candidates and challenge caucasion candidates.
References :
Roger Lathbury
October 24th, 2008 at 1:51 am
This phenomenon invalidates public opinion polls on races between black and white candidates.
I don’t know what you are referring to by “phenomenon,” but I suspect that a simpler word could be found: “fact,” “discovery,” “finding.”
References :