[PJ-Comix]

This is weird. Yesterday afternoon I wrote an essay in my head on the subject of how polls are like Ouija Boards. I definitely planned on writing up that essay and ship it around for publication. Then I saw this DUmmie thread last night and it gave me the opportunity to incorporate that essay into this DUFU edition, thus the length of the intro.

Let me know if you want on the DUmmie FUnnies PING List.

[PJ-Comix]

PING!

[Always Right]

[Think about it. We have a strong economy now. Think about it.]

But if you read the media and even some who post on FR, you would believe we are in the middle of a 1930's-style depression. So what if we have had year after year of growth.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

This was rather enlightening, in an amusing way.

[jennyjenny]

Top 10???

[Incorrigible]

I'm in the top 10!

[CSM]

first top 10?

[BerniesFriend]

I am so confused..Bush not only won re-election in 04 thru the electoral college, but also won a majority of the popular vote..first time since his father did it 88..now polls are telling us that nearly half of his voters are against him????? I don't think so..

[NRA1995]

"...there apparently exists a solid, unshakable 33%-40% bloc of support for a president with authoritarian leanings and a seemingly complete disregard for the Constitution and Bill of Rights...no matter how badly he does.

This DUmmie seems to be talking about Bill Clinton and his penchant for domestic spying and 21 year old interns....

[Alexander Rubin]

Top 10? Or 20?

[reformedliberal]

I am almost certain I saw Rasmussen yesterday and W was at 45%.

Yesterday, two successful, self-made millionaires, who are both strong donks supporting Finegold, were gleeful that the NYT article from Blair's Foreign Policy Adviser detailing the fact that W was ready to go to war even w/o an 18th resolution would be the lead news story today and would take down the POTUS.

PJ, is there a DUmmie thread on this? No time or stomach to go over there myself. I do suspect that somewhere in the moonbat blogosphere, they are already chanting "This is the day everything will change", even though the article is a retread of a story from last summer.

[kevkrom]

The only people I know who still support him are truly uninformed or stupid, or religiously insane.

I have to repeat this often enough I ought to just coin it "kevkrom's postulate"... one of the worst things you can do, from an intellectual standpoint, is to assume that someone who disgrees with your conclusions is either ingorant or crazy. If you cannot even acknowledge the possibility that the other side of the argument has reasons for its position, then maybe it's you who are the closed-minded bigot.

[CzarNicky]

considering the crap polls put out by the former MSM I'd say Oiuja boards are more scientifically accurate than an MSM poll.

[RabidBartender]

" The 33% are the Christofascisti; they've been told Bush is God, err, good and they always believe what they've been told to believe.

I must've missed that memo. Seriously, liberals - keep spitting on Christians. And keep questioning why you're still losing. Me? I'm happy on all fronts.

[socialismisinsidious]

bloc of support for a president with.......a seemingly complete disregard for the Constitution and Bill of Rights

Talk about funny!....especially when you consider the source.

[chesley]

Of course, the professional pollsters later claimed that there was a series of "logical" reasons to explain away the huge error of the Exit Polls: overpolling certain groups, underpolling other groups, using amateur data collectors, etc., etc.. And I can give them "logical" explanations as to why the Ouija Board of my teenage experience was not accurate. I have my own theory. I've been hanging out too long on DU, so, of course, it is a conspiracy theory. The DUmmies believe that it was only due to a conspiracy by the Evil Republicans that the actual election results did not match the Exit Polls. Diebold, suppressing the "minority" vote, etc. etc.

My theory is this. The pollsters were actively trying to influence the elections by making it seem that Kerry had ALREADY won. Then the Evil Republican voters would stay home, and not vote.

Having been caught calling the polls closed too early in Florida, they could not try that trick again so soon. So this is what they came up with.

I figure this conspiracy theory has at least as much validity as the ones floating around over at DU.

[Incorrigible]

It does aggrevate me that the network news (like ABC radio in the middle of Rush's program) leads with whatever the biased poll of the day is followed by the death toll in Iraq.

Like the ABC news executive that emailed his hatred of President Bush, they are so desperate for a Republican defeat in Nov.

I'll be glad when this election is over but with the Republicans spending like drunken sailors and granting amnesty, I begin to wonder if we'd be better off with a government split by party lines.

[CSM]

Rush has fooled me into thinking that supporting the overthrow of tyrannies in the ME, supporting the growth of Democracy, appointing Judges that don't legislate, allowing people to keep more of their earnings and promoting an ownership society are all the opposit of Fascism.

These DUmmies are truly deluded.

[.cnI redruM]

>>>>>>>>The 33% are the Christofascisti; they've been told Bush is God,


If they are Christofascisti, and they've read the X Commandments; (This typical DUmbass has not) they would understand that worshiping Bush as God would be an act of apostasy that would get any true Christofascisti hanged.

[luvie]

[Yes, DUmmies. Toss yourselves over the cliff in frustration over poll results that are no more accurate than a Ouija Board.]

[Ludicrous]

I worked for several years as a Software Engineer for big Polling company. Take it from me -- polls can be systematically manipulated to produce the desired result. The question's wording, the sample demographics and the weighting that is applied to the results are all "art" not "science". Many polling practices are based in theoretical assumptions.

But the reputable polling companies do not produce many of these "public opinion" polls or partner with the MSM organizations. Public opinion polls may produce headlines and send our Dummies hearts a-thumpin', but these polls are not big revenue producers.

There is BIG money to be made in the market research arena.
Companies are willing to pay dearly for the opinions of the consumers of their goods and services. One example that was extremely lucrative is the pharmeceutical industry.
The drug producers need the polling companies to guage the effacacy and side-effect occurence of their products.
However, in my experience the market-research polls are conducted more scientifically than the public-opinion polls. The influence of the political agenda of the polls sponsors does not affect the methodolgy. The polling companies would lose credibility if the results were deemed unreliable. A polling company's reputation is their only asset.