Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

courseofhistory

(801 posts)
Fri Oct 26, 2012, 11:41 PM Oct 2012

Rand Poll 10/26/12 Obama leads Romney...

Election Forecast (approx 50% O 44% R)

The Election Forecast provides our best forecast of the popular vote based on the responses that panelists provided in the past week. The gray band indicates if the difference between the estimates for the two candidates is statistically significant. If the lines for Obama and Romney lie outside the gray band, then with at least 95-percent confidence we can say that one candidate would win the election if on election day the citizens vote as they now anticipate. It is important to note that if the lines are within the gray band then the observed differences may be due to chance.

It is also important to note that the predictions combine the percent chance of voting for a candidate with the percent chance that a respondent will actually vote. For example, if someone says in response to the first question that he or she has a 50-percent chance of actually voting, then this person's response to the question of who they will vote for gets a “weight” of 50 percent in the calculation of our prediction (which is then further weighted by the percent chance that he or she says that they are likely to vote for their chosen candidate).

[img][/img]

Why This Poll Is Different

First, it allows us to ask the same people for their opinion repeatedly over time. In comparison to most polls, this leads to much more stable outcomes; changes that we see are true changes in people's opinions and not the result of random fluctuations in who gets asked the questions.

Second, we may be more accurately capturing the likely votes of a greater number of voters in the crucial “middle” (i.e., not closely aligned with either candidate) by allowing respondents to more precisely assign their own numerical probability (or percent chance) to both the likelihood that they will vote and the likelihood that they will vote for a particular candidate. By comparison, traditional polls may not be fully capturing the intentions of these voters because they rely on less precise qualitative metrics (such as somewhat likely and somewhat unlikely) when asking respondents to indicate for whom they may vote and the likelihood that they will vote.

Read more at link for more details:

https://mmicdata.rand.org/alp/?page=election

6 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Rand Poll 10/26/12 Obama leads Romney... (Original Post) courseofhistory Oct 2012 OP
Great news Justice4All1 Oct 2012 #1
My fear is this poll is accurate Democratopia Oct 2012 #2
Yeah, no. Not going to happen. First Af-Am President Maximumnegro Oct 2012 #3
Is this tonight's update? TroyD Oct 2012 #4
The other tabs are even more interesting abumbyanyothername Oct 2012 #5
This is a day old. They release at 1am. Maximumnegro Oct 2012 #6
 

Democratopia

(552 posts)
2. My fear is this poll is accurate
Sat Oct 27, 2012, 01:48 AM
Oct 2012

And Gallup, Rasmssen and a few others are setting us up for a stolen election.

Maximumnegro

(1,134 posts)
3. Yeah, no. Not going to happen. First Af-Am President
Sat Oct 27, 2012, 01:53 AM
Oct 2012

of the US who also taught Constitutional law? I am pretty sure he's prepared for all scenarios.

TroyD

(4,551 posts)
4. Is this tonight's update?
Sat Oct 27, 2012, 01:55 AM
Oct 2012

Or is this the one that was posted last night?

I know that 24 hours ago the one I saw had Obama at 50% and Romney at 44%.

abumbyanyothername

(2,711 posts)
5. The other tabs are even more interesting
Sat Oct 27, 2012, 01:55 AM
Oct 2012

especially the intention to vote and the switched vote (% of sample that moves from week to week from Romney to Obama or from Obama to Romney).

Kick in to the DU tip jar?

This week we're running a special pop-up mini fund drive. From Monday through Friday we're going ad-free for all registered members, and we're asking you to kick in to the DU tip jar to support the site and keep us financially healthy.

As a bonus, making a contribution will allow you to leave kudos for another DU member, and at the end of the week we'll recognize the DUers who you think make this community great.

Tell me more...

Latest Discussions»Retired Forums»2016 Postmortem»Rand Poll 10/26/12 Obama ...