From: Harvey Newstrom (mail@HarveyNewstrom.com)
Date: Fri Aug 10 2001 - 08:59:38 MDT
Mike Lorrey wrote,
> Harvey Newstrom wrote:
> > Mike Lorrey wrote,
> > > And who does the exit polling? The media, which has a proven bias. The
> > > fact is that exit pollsters have to correct exit poll data because
> > > pollsters ALWAYS project more votes for democrats than what actually
> > > occurs.
> >
> > You are absolutely right. But the margin is small. The fact that they
> > ALWAYS do it makes it totally consistent and repeatable, which
> is why they
> > are capable of correcting it as you noted above. Their may be
> bias in their
> > methods, but they do fairly correct the data to present more accurate
> > results.
>
> Yes, but what about the impact? Most people know that their one vote
> will have little impact on an election either way. When the media report
> the democrats are winning by even a small margin, this discourages
> republicans from going and voting, expecting the election to be lost.
But I don't think they report this. Even you mentioned that they "correct"
for this bias.
However, I agree with you that elections should not be predicted or polled
before the voting is done. Even though I don't think it has been proven to
have interfered with the results, the potential is just too great.
Elections would be more objective and fair if the media did not try to call
them before they are finished.
> That's a nice neat way to let the media off the hook. I don't buy it. I
> have personally seen exit pollers ignore people with conservative
> leanings and select people who look 'liberal' to participate in exit
> polls, whether its done by hair length, clothing quality, or skin color
> is irrelevant, it is profile that is at least as wrong as the police
> profiling of blacks that liberals complain of.
I think you see conspiracies more often than I do. Conspiracies are not the
simplest explanation for the observed data. Mere stupidity, sloppiness,
confusion are often more likely explanations. It is true that everyone has
biases, and biases skew results, and more liberals seem to become media
people, so the media has a liberal bias. But I don't think any of this was
a deliberate plot by the Left. It just evolved that way. You give the Left
too much credit if you think they could have infiltrated and taken over
almost all media.
-- Harvey Newstrom <http://HarveyNewstrom.com> <http://Newstaff.com>
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