IDG Contributor Network: When charts attack! Why statistics still matter in politics

Politicians are never without numbers to support their argument. Sometimes the statistics are manipulated to make a particular point. Other times there are bare-faced lies in their tweets. Correct and accurate numbers do get used, but even then, their opponents dismiss the numbers rather than engage and debate them.

Are statistics and data at risk of being reduced to mere noise, however valid they may be?

On April 18, the U.K. Treasury put the potential cost of leaving the EU at £4,300 per household per year. Chris Grayling, a leading Brexit campaigner, says he does "not accept a document of doom and gloom from the Treasury." It strikes me as odd that a government minister dismisses the Treasury when discussing Brexit, but presumably is quite happy to use its documents when they support other government policy. Dismissing numbers rather than engaging with them lets electorates down.

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