State GOP wants Star Tribune to suspend poll

[rndmprsn]

http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/4987346.html

they had kerry leading 50 to 41...no wonder the repugs want to shut down any poll that gives kerry the edge.


State Republican Party Chairman Ron Eibensteiner called Friday for the Star Tribune to suspend its Minnesota Poll until after the Nov. 2 election, saying the poll is "fatally flawed." The newspaper declined to do so.

"Our polling methodology is public and well-established, and the paper will continue to poll, report our results and publish other polls," Star Tribune Editor Anders Gyllenhaal said. "We will not be taking direction from any political party on polling or news judgment."

Last week, Eibensteiner called for the newspaper to fire its pollster for what he said was years of overrepresenting Democrats and underrepresenting Republicans in the Minnesota Poll. Days later, a new Minnesota Poll of likely voters showed Democratic presidential challenger Sen. John Kerry leading President Bush among likely voters, 50 percent to 41 percent.

[bluestateguy]

1. If Gallup will do the same they have themselves a deal

In some countries polls are illegal at a certain point before the election.

Ideas? Hmmmm....

[cthrumatrix]

it's clear that the repugs care only about "brainwashing".... ask Gallup

[cthrumatrix]

18. it's clear that the repugs care only about "brainwashing".... ask Gallup

[blm]

2. This proves the GOP strategy is reliant on proRepublican polls to depress

Dem voter turnout and better position them to steal the election.

Any accurate polling makes it more difficult to do that.

What a brazen step to demand a newspaper stop polling.

[rndmprsn]

4. its terrible...

you'd think that fellow journalist in the main-stream press would see this and be outraged

...corp news has created a generation of sheep.

[neomonkey]

6. Bingo!

Isn't that the truth. Polls have taken on a life of themselves and I do not like where they are going.

The American public, having decided thinking and research into candidates is not worth the trouble or time it would take them to watch another crappy hour of junk TV, is now content to let polls stand in as proxy decision-making tools.

So damned sad.

[Guaranteed]

11. YES! nt

[skooooo]

3. Why aren't stories like this getting mainstream exposure??

This is nothing but an effort at censorship!!

[toddaa]

5. Mainstream?

What does that word mean? Mainstream as in owned by a large media conglomerate that is deeply concerned with making its shareholders happy.

Don't like it? Buy a 51% share in Time Warner and fix it.

[skooooo]

7. mainstream is what most people are exposed to

[Mel]

8. that and

"mainstream is what most people are exposed to" I understood what you meant even though I call it 'the corportista media'
and I bet if you could you would buy the stock and 'fix it' ;) as a matter of fact a lot of DU'ers would if given the chance $ wise.

I don't think toddaa realizes that DU'ers are and have become the media look at how DU'ers busted Parlock.
We have DU'ers that have blogs, write books, report conventions protests, have Web Sites such as 'Take Back the Media' and so many more doing work that I haven't mentioned.

So someone telling you to buy it and 'fix it' seems condescending to me and I couldn't let this one slide by. If toddaa didn't mean it that way fine, but it sure did sound like something a Republican would say and frankly I'm sick of it!

[skooooo]

14. It's clear that Internet sites and blogs..

..are in the "media mix," even to the point of influencing the "mainstream media" - however you define it. It begs the question, at what point does the "alternative media" achieve legitimacy in the eyes of the majority of people? or has it to some extent already?

Funny how it seems that a lot of the real journalism is going on here on the Internet, but the big companies are using it to manipulate us (via the use of Drudge rumors) and get a free ride by not conducting real research but relying on anonymous people on the Internet for that.

[toddaa]

19. That's the trick

The Catch-22 for alternative media is that once it achieves "legitimacy" in the eyes of the mainstream, it's usually because it has been contained, marginalized or assimilated.

[toddaa]

17. All Bran for breakfast

>If toddaa didn't mean it that way fine, but it sure did sound like something a Republican would say and frankly I'm sick of it!

You missed the joke. DU is populated by too many people who need to take a deep breath and relax.

As for myself, I prefer a high fiber diet. :evilgrin:

[Clinton Crusader]

9. Have Time, Newsweek and Gallup roll up

and then MAYBE we'll have a deal.

GEEZ LOUISE!
:kick:

[Joanne98]

10. Here's my letter to the journalist who wrote this piece

The reason the Republicans are pressuring honest pollsters is because they are going to use the rigged e-voting machines to steal the election. There is already mass moblization by voting rights activists to counter the THEFT before the election, during (their own exit polling) and after by filing qui tam lawsuits. I'd like to thank Gyllenhaal for having the courage to do the right thing. The criminals will pay for this like they've never paid
before.

Patricia Lopez is at [e-mail]

[physaf]

15. that's the way to put them on notice

this has got to stop soon.

[AP]

12. This proves that a big part of the GOP strategy is discouraging people

with flawed polls showing Kerry behind.

They're pulling all these Bush +9 polls out of their asses, but can't countenance a single Kerry +9 poll even if it's flawed in the same way their polls are flawed (and it probably isn't flawed at all).

[belle]

13. YES. THANK YOU.

p.s. i hate them SO MUCH.

[IndianaGreen]

16. We might be better off averaging all the polls

such as this website:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/bush_vs_kerry.html

Of course, we also have to take into consideration the state polls because that is how the Electoral votes will go. The same website has a page for the battleground states:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/bush_vs_kerry_sbys.html

[ParanoidPat]

20. An average of flawed polls only results in a flawed average.....

.....IOW, worthless data. GIGO, 'garbage in, garbage out'. :(

IMHO, Kerry and Edwards must seize the opportunity to highlight this attempted manipulation of the publics perception by making this an issue in every stump speech they give.

They must harp on this relentlessly, and warn the public not to put too much faith into polling results, rather, to have faith in ourselves and in our own experiences. They must expose the rigged methodologies being used in an attempt to exploit us and raise the publics awareness of such blatant attempts to shut down those who would dare to try and give an honest assessment of publics sentiment.

They're the ONLY ones who can do it.

Much of the the media is complicit in the fraud and of course will not even acknowledge that there is a problem. They will go out of their way to bury stories that call poll results into question. The rest are threatened with being cut off from access to our 'free and open' government, thereby giving an unfair advantage to their competitors. Like it or not, that fear will translate into a reluctance to 'rock the boat' as it may translate into real financial losses.

Kerry and Edwards are the story that has to be covered between now and the election. By them raising the issue on the campaign trail, they give cover to the press to raise questions that they might not otherwise choose to cover for obvious reasons.

By framing the issue as a matter of a government who, through fear, intimidation and manipulation, seek to lead our nation, against a vision of a government that is more responsive to the will of an informed electorate and can be trusted to craft policy and legislation based on the best interests of all Americans, can gain us a distinct advantage.