Well, this is jarring. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that in a poll of 500 American viewers of the Olympics, 78% of them think Ryan Seacrest is doing a good job at the games. Seacrest's involvement has been trashed seemingly on a daily basis online, and the results of the poll are stunning.
It's worth noting though, that Dan Patrick received a 94% approval rating, and that Bob Costas received 92% positive… so it's not as if Seacrest is at the top of the heap here. Also, the poll was conducted among a whopping 500 Americans, which is hardly some sort of significant sample.
Here's the thing about polls…there is really more to them than what you see on the surface. I searched fruitlessly for the actual questions asked during the poll, and that's a key component in the polls. For example, what if the question was something along the lines of "How satisfied are you with Ryan Seacrest's Olympic broadcasting?" and the choices were "very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, and not satisfied"? You can easily spin that into "78% are satisfied!" by grouping the first two options into one. The same goes for Patrick and Costas obviously, but as well-respected members of the sports media, it's much easier for us to believe that they've gotten fantastic satisfaction scores.
There's the issue of demographics. Who is being polled here? "American Olympic viewers" is the only qualification that we have. Are they talking to diehard, 18-34 year old male sports fans? Are they talking to the casual viewer that has no idea who any American swimmer is aside from Michael Phelps?
There are a lot of holes in the article touting the results of this poll, and it's typical Hollywood spin. So, we're going to end this with a very simple, yes or no poll for our readers. Are you satisfied with Ryan Seacrest's work at the Olympics this year?
[h/t: Hollywood Reporter]
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