Fuzzy electoral math at the Globe & Mail

I don’t know why I bother keeping you up to date on the failings and cribbing of the DTM. It’s not as though the horse hasn’t been beaten to death already by now….

Here is an excerpt from the election central website at Canada’s National Newspaper.

“In the last federal election, in 2006, almost 15 million Canadians cast their ballots. But the decisive factor — the difference between a Conservative or Liberal minority government — came down to less than 15,000 votes in a dozen tightly-fought ridings or 0.001 per cent of Canadian voters. For the 2008 election, the difference between victory and defeat, between minority and majority government, will be decided in 45 key battleground ridings in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. Click on the links below to get the results in those ridings.”

As most 5th graders will tell you, 15,000 is 0.1% of 15 million, not 0.001%.

MRM