The apply function in R is used as a fast and simple alternative to loops. It allows users to apply a function to a vector or data frame by row, by column or to the entire data frame. Below are a few basic uses of this powerful function as well as one of it’s sister functions lapply. There are other functions in the apply family (sapply,...
There were a lot of predictions from pundits in the lead up to the 2016 Election, many of which predicted a Hillary Clinton victory. We now know that Donald Trump earned the victory with key wins in a handful of surprise swing states. With this still settling in for some, we took a hard look at the data behind his victory and what drove his...
This year, the Red Oak Strategic team decided to undertake a new challenge in the world of polling and analytics : conduct a bi-weekly, public, national survey that we would execute and release using the Google Surveys platform. Beginning in August and continuing through the final week of the 2016 election, our partnership with GCS led to the...
Political polling faces a crisis of confidence. Major news outlets repeatedly ask “What’s the matter with polling?” after major misses like the Bernie Sanders’s primary upset in Michigan, where he beat Hillary Clinton 50–48 despite the fact that she was leading by up to 20 points in reputable polls. There is, however, hope for a polling...