In: Statistics and Probability
Exit polling is a popular technique used to determine the outcome of an election prior to results being tallied. Suppose a referendum to increase funding for education is on the ballot in a large town (voting population over 100,000). An exit poll of 500 voters finds that 240voted for the referendum. How likely are the results of your sample if the population proportion of voters in the town in favor of the referendum is 0.51? Based on your result, comment on the dangers of using exit polling to call elections.