NATIONAL POLLS ARE MEANINGLESS!

Come on Hot Air, you have to point this out every time there is a national poll done on the presidential election. Al Gore’s 500,000 popular vote lead in the 2000 election should be a bit of a reminder of that. We elect our president with electoral votes, not the popular vote, making national polls like this for, yes, baaaaah. The sheep.

Didn’t anyone at the Post look at these numbers and wonder whether that reflected the nation as a whole, or perhaps a bias in sample collection?

I hope that’s a rhetorical question. Of course they looked at those numbers, and then proceeded to say, “Looks cooked enough for a headline.”

Jim Geraghty sniffed something wafting from a Washington Post poll that had John McCain down nationally by 6 to Hillary Clinton and 12 to Barack Obama. He took a look at the crosstabs, and found that 15% weren’t even registered to vote.
Ed Morri…

I think maybe WaPo sampled too many people who talk big but do not actually vote.

I think the poll is intended to generate headlines. The media will all be talking about this today and that is the point. needless to say time will tell what the people really think.

percysunshine on March 6, 2008 at 12:47 PM

You are absolutely correct.

I only have two words to add: Bandwagon Effect

Oh, by the way, how many felons were in the WaPo sample?

The moment I saw the boastful headline yesterday announcing that, if the election were held today, either Obama or Hillary would beat McCain by a mile, I suspected that something was wrong. The numbers just didn’t sound right. And of course, th…

The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll has Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain by 12 points and Sen. Hillary Clinton leading Sen. McCain by 6 points.

This does not look like good news for McCain.

However, a closer look at the poll’s int…

Didn’t anyone at the Post look at these numbers and wonder whether that reflected the nation as a whole, or perhaps a bias in sample collection?

Of course. They still wonder how they managed to find that many Republicans, since no one they know is one.

I would rather spend the rest of my life in the front row of a Barry Manilow concert than I would even reading a single trashed-out paragraph from either rag.

pilamaye on March 6, 2008 at 12:30 PM

I ain’t going that far, at least not yet.

Polls generated by the leftist media are designed to influence rather than inform. They’re mathematical garbage and are absolutely irrelevant.

rplat on March 6, 2008 at 1:05 PM

Yes, that’s correct. BUT – THEY ARE EFFECTIVE in that sheeple want to be with the winner, so change their vote to get on the winning side.

This is WHY public education is so poor…a stupid population is easier to control. Does anyone doubt that it’s working?

Are you coming to work tomorrow?

Didn’t anyone at the Post look at these numbers and wonder whether that reflected the nation as a whole, or perhaps a bias in sample collection?

Of course not.

The WaPo is only interested in getting the unfavorable McCain message out to the sheeple. Repeat it, over and over and over again. Doesn’t have to be true, doesn’t have to be fair, just get it out there. Let the other papers pick up the story nationwide. Have them repeat it too. Like a sunami, the story saturates the minds of the mindless.

After a week, it’s true baby!

It’s an old strategy, but it works like a charm.

percysunshine on March 6, 2008 at 12:47 PM

very true, it makes the electorate think its “ok” to vote for the Dems, because they must be more ‘popular’ judging by the polls.

I think this same game has alot to do with bush’s poll numbers. They started this game in 2005, they’d have regular “lead stories” on bush’s poll numbers which were based on skewed samples. eventually it worked to some degree. Now you don’t see these stories anymore.

the GOP would have little problem being the majority party in Washington if not for the media, IMO.

Dude.

Not surprising, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t put this up.  From Capt. Ed:
The Washington Post reports that their new poll shows John McCain trailing Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton — a result that contradicts Rasmussen’s polling this…

jp on March 6, 2008 at 12:31 PM

Dem identification lead in 2004, too. Granted, the margin was a bit smaller.

I sense frustration.

Good post. I’ll keep on dreaming that every poll spit out on the national networks includes the sampling method. Maybe…someday…