In 1992 when there was only CNN and the alphabet networks, Ross Perot was at 31% and Clinton and Bush were in the high 20s. Overnight it flipped and Perot slipped down to something like 26%. Perot’s campaign manager called CNN and they told him they stopped counting people who did not vote in the last election whether they were voting in 1992 or not. Bottom line is a big chunk of Perot’s support was from people who didn’t intend to vote until he got in. Now CNN wasn’t counting them.
This is not an argument for or against Perot. What I’m pointing out is this was happening in 1992. The media folks who do the polls are make them come out the way they want them to. And sadly, probably 20% of the voters want to pick a winner so they go with the polls.
As I recall, that’s about the time ears suspended his campaign for a month. Perot did not any part in winning.
I am not sure if my link below is posted correctly, but it is a YouTube of the CBS pundit table in 1980 after Reagan was declared the winner.
It is a great watch as all the LIbs are astonished how the actual vote broke so soundly towards Reagan after the polls showed it a tight race.
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OohreUeVoHw&feature=youtube_gdata_player [\url]
Worth five minutes of your time.