Acbs news/new york times opinion poll asked 1,190 adults whether they would prefer balancing the federal budget over cutting taxes and 59% of those asked said "yes." suppose that in fact 62% of all adults favor balancing the budget over cutting taxes. if you take a large number of srss of size 1,190, the sample proportions who favor balancing the budget will vary. some will be lower than 62% and some will be higher, but the average sample result will be very close to 62%. this fact is called