They reported both polls as accurate and analyzed them as such.

Please tell me it’s just the former, as the latter would seem to be an abomination as far as conservatism is concerned. Like Ed says, I think we are grown ups – if our society needs the Gubmint to prevent the big bad pollsters from improperly raising or lowering our morale, then maybe we really DO need a nanny state to run our lives.

But I think most of you are just venting, so I should probably settle down and get off my soapbox.

I am volunteering at phone bank in a local house campaign (Go Zeldin 08!) As a result of my experience I really have began to question the accuracy of polling. I have read articles about this problem but to see it in action is amazing.

This is just a wild guess totally based on anecdotal evidence … however I only connect with callers about 10-20% of the time. Many have block calls from unknown numbers and the vast majority never pick up the phone. The only demographic that regularly picks up their phones are the elderly. I guess they are not up on the technology like caller id etc so they pick up the phone. Heck maybe they want the phone calls.

And, obviously, polls are great for journalists, bloggers, radio hosts and television talking heads since they give us something else to chatter about while we wait for the next debate or monstrous gaffe…..
……
Polls that use bad samples and questionable methodology will eventually get exposed

Well Ed thanks for a different perspective on polls, especially since AllahPundit has so obsessively posted them here.

You the bloggers, are the one that need to expose the bad samples and questionable methodology, instead of just letting it float by our brains as raw data every day.

By viewing your blog every day we expect you to do raw data crunching, because frankly, that’s your job.

And SPARE ME the:

“Not-everything-published-by-the-New-York-Times-is-worthless, and not everything aired by Fox is brilliant”

….ass kissing gag line!!

Trying to imitate the Politico is not your cup of tea, so please stick with your real job.

Or else, you will have to be send to the Ass-Kissing-Anonymous and Allah to the Poll-Pundit-Anonymous clubs!!

Why don’t you quote Rush’s commenting on Wizbang’ analysis of the polls?

Badger40 on September 23, 2008 at 2:15 PM

I always laugh when I hear the term “scientific poll”.

Yeah…real scientific….requires a PhD in Counting

Unfortunately, “coverage” has morphed into speculation about the future course of events, embellished with pop-psyche analyses of newsmakers and public alike. Throw in a couple of man in the street 20 second spots, and you’re good to go. It’s a cheap as news production gets, and boy do we get cheap “news” as a result. Polls are practically the only snapshots left of where we actually are at any given point in time. They’ve become the substance of the reporting that they once informed and the fodder for yet more predictions, regardless of how flawed the last predictions were.

57% of the American public believe Osama Bin Laden will be killed/captured within the next 12 months.

Excuse me; WTF???? etc. What the hell is the relationship between what people believe and reality?

I loathe the way polls are reported even more.

This constant blithering narrative that attempts to portray polling data as a form of continuous measurement that models a ‘horse race’ view of the campaigns. He’s up by 4, then down by 2, roaring ahead by 13, tanking by 10….utter bollocks.

Bollocks, bollocks, bollocks.

Shite.

Guess they’ll put me down for Obammy.

Supposedly, failures in the past suppressed voter turnout in California during Jimmy Carter’s re-election bid and in the Florida panhandle in 2000.

It has always bothered me that people would dare to not vote after I’ve told them what I want from them. Damned disrespectful!

There seems to be some disagreement let’s take a poll on this…

right2bright on September 23, 2008 at 12:07 PM

I’m game! Let’s do it!

It springs from a patronizing opinion of the American voter that suggests that Joe Sixpack won’t vote unless he feels it the equivalent of the climactic moment of an episode of 24.

Of course Joe won’t vote unless he gets something out of it! It’s not like there is any intrinsic value in freely voting for your choice of candidate in a democratic republic without fear of intimidation or recrimination (unless you live in certain Democratic strongholds in inner cities).

MB4 on September 23, 2008 at 12:11 PM

Good to see you back, might just have been my failing vision but I didn’t see you the last couple of days.

I tend to somewhat question the accuracy of polls. The questions can be slanted as can the demographics and without anything to back it up I get the feeling that people are lying more and more to the pollsters. Having said that I see no need to do away with them, just take them with a grain of salt.