If the measurement system is consistent and you get responses from the same
groups, then  the trend should measure what is hapening to those groups. So
I see no problem with the general trends as an indicator.

Polling data is always subjective, but it can show trends, which was the
whole point of the original post.

Add that the issue is the continued statement that neonics/CCD (which seem
to have been coupled at birth) destroy 30% of all bees everywhere ever year
so you should see a trend, which you do not.

If you go way back in the archives, even at the height of real CCD, the
percent of colony deaths related to CCD against all other factors, was less
than 5% in the US. Varroa, viruses, nosema, starvation, etc, took up the
rest. But the 30% was commandeered by the neonic advocates and they have
never bother to correct it.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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