Campaign Puts Polling Methods Under Microscope

[Nicholas_J]

Subject: Campaign Puts Polling Methods Under Microscope
Message:
As U.S. voters are swamped by a blizzard of rival surveys in the
final weeks of the Nov. 2 presidential election campaign, pollsters
themselves are facing increasing questions about their
As U.S. voters are swamped by a blizzard of rival surveys in the
final weeks of the Nov. 2 presidential election campaign, pollsters
themselves are facing increasing questions about their
methodology and accuracy.

Polls do not only measure campaigns. They may also affect them.If
one candidate starts trailing in the polls, some of his supporters
may become demoralized and decide not to vote.
"Polls impact how voters feel about a candidate, especiallybecause
of the huge coverage they attract on cable TV and theInternet," said
Dean Spiliotes, director of the New HampshireInstitute of Politics at
Saint Anselm College in Manchester.
"In many respects, they have become a campaign tool for
mobilizing a candidate's base and demoralizing the opposition," he
said.
Moveon.org, an Internet-based group working to defeat Bush, took
out a full-page advertisement in Tuesday's New York Times
attacking the Gallup poll that put Bush ahead for employing faulty
methodology that overrepresented Republicans and undercounted
Democrats.


http://www.boston.com/news/politics/polls/articles/2004...
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Its great that MoveOn is exposing the attempts to hijack the polls and use them as a tool to alter
campaigns rather than reflect the will of the public.

This, along with attempts to disenfranchise Ohio voters should be exposed by the Kerry campaign.

[enough]

1. There is a stunning article detailing the absolute bullshit

that passed for polling during the 2000 election. Complete with documentation.

You can find the article in robbedvoter's thread here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x912337

From that same thread, here is a poll posted by CNN on OCTOBER 27, 2000
(A CNN/USA-Today/Gallop Poll):

[cheshire]

2. Well if that doesn't speak volumes of bias I don't know what does.