Exaggerated statistics are food for thought

Dear Editor,  For a long time, prior to the referendum on same-sex marriage, the media, for the greater part, engaged in a thoroughly biased promotional exercise. Time and again it was stated that some 80% of the Irish people would vote in favour. Not once did I hear these statistics questioned, but they should have been, for they turned out to be a wanton exaggeration. After the result, partisan reporting informed us that 62% of the Irish people had voted ‘yes’. This is not true. Only 60% of the electorate voted. Of this 60%, 62% voted in favour. That is only 37% of the total electorate… Well under half and nowhere near 80% predicted. 

We cannot say how the non-voting 40% would have voted. It would be interesting to know why they did not vote. The excellent letter from Mr Gerald Wheeler (IC 17/09/15) certainly gives food for thought. 

Yours etc.,

Isabella Corr,

Newtownards, Co Down.