TRR: Why Obama Can't Win

washingtontimes.com ^ | 11/5/2012 | James S. Robbins

[Signalman]

There are dozens of presidential opinion polls these days, and even more interpretations what they mean. But predictions keep changing, which calls into question how useful they are. The closer you get to an election the easier it is to call it, at least in theory. But it is not really predicting when you change your take on the race with every new poll. For example Nate Silver at his New York Times blog has consistently “predicted” an Obama victory, yet has altered the odds on a daily basis. This is the equivalent of claiming you can predict the outcome of a baseball game, but then changing the odds inning by inning to reflect the evolving state of play. Yes your “prediction” will be very accurate once you reach the 9th inning, but it also doesn't take a stat wizard to make the call.

Traditional social science models do more than simply rehash and average out the latest daily surveys. They look at the influence of variables like age, education, income, sex, race, the economy, and other such factors to come up with more durable conclusions. For example University of Colorado Professors Ken Bickers and Michael Berry have developed a model based on state-level economic data that predicts Mitt Romney winning with 330 electoral votes. They have applied this model successfully to every presidential race since 1980. It does not shift around with the polls; in fact it does not use them at all.

The most robust predictor of individual voter behavior is party ID. In these hyper-partisan times, if you know someone’s party affiliation you can say how they will vote with around 95% certainty.

[johnd201]

My church is actually holding a prayer vigil until midnight tonight praying that Romney wins. I pray the Washington Times is correct.

[Sacajaweau]

I call these phony polls...Russert Syndrome....

[Donnafrflorida]

Let me understand this. a hurricane devastates the NE. o puts on a bomber jacket. hugs a few people and deserts them for the next 8 days. this causes the american voters to swing back to obama.
i am absolutely living in the twighlight zone...or the preciface of hell.

[QT3.14]

Preparation R will cure America's painful ∅rroids!

[ex91B10]

Though Winston did not rush out into the streets, mentally he was joining in with the cheering crowds. The face of Big Brother loomed large over the announcement and Winston felt his eyes fill with tears of joy and reconciliation. The last lesson had been learnt. “He loved Big Brother.”

The Kenyan must go.

[Mad Dawgg]

I saw a story on Fox showing Obama is feeling nostalgic and asked several of his former staff (Gibbs was one of them) to ride with him on AF1 these last few campaign stops and then he is going to play B-Ball tomorrow so no last minute swing state visits on Tuesday.

I don;t know if it means anything but I would bet 10 large that if it was a sitting repub President campaigning for his second term the MSM would call it a sure sign they knew they were losing.