The term, generally credited to IBM programmer George Fuechsel, simply refers to the fact that computers will process whatever information they are given, without making judgments as to the validity or accuracy of the information -- and when inaccurate information is input into computers, inaccurate output will be the result.
Over the decades, "garbage in, garbage out" has been shortened to its acronym, GIGO.
In politics, one of the places where you're most likely to run across the GIGO phenomenon is in the construction of a survey sample.
Continue reading Perils of Polling in Post-Obama Era.