** Harris Polling issues QUESTIONABLE POLL numbers - See the requirements and LET THEM KNOW!!!

Harris has noted that their polls comply with your requirements and standards. However, I have specifically requested 2 key items as noted in the message below, which they have not yet provided.

When considering that Gallup, and most other respected polling organizations (including CBS' own recent poll in the midst of "Rathergate") do NOT concur with these results, it is disingenuous, and potentially deceptive for them to state that they are in compliance with your methods.

Please consider this a formal complaint and do NOT register their poll with your organization until they have fully complied with your requirements.

I found your most recent poll very interesting. Not only for the information that it presents, but also for what it appears to lack...

You have noted that your poll "conform[s] to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls." The most basic requirement and purpose of these standards is to provide a:

"commitment to standards of disclosure designed to insure that consumers of survey results that enter the public domain have an adequate basis for judging the reliability and validity of the results reported." Unless I am mistaken, there following requirements are lacking from the National Council of Public Polls requirements:

In particular, who paid for this poll (in relation to issue #1 above), and what is the breakdown on the number of registered Republicans to registered Democrats in the poll? Without these disclosures, there is no way those in the public domain will "have an adequate basis for judging the reliability and validity of the results reported."

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation in providing this crucial reliability and validity information,

The Harris Poll was done among ADULTS, 18 and older. It wasn't done among likely voters or even registered voters. It was done among whomever happened to answer the phone provided they were 18 or older. That's it.

I use to work for the guy who does the Harris Poll, a real pig of a man and hardcore Democrat named Hal Quinley. I worked for him before Harris took over the company Quinley was employed by, Yankelovich Partners. At that time they did Time/CNN's polling. It appears to me Quinley lost the Time poll since someone else other than Harris is now doing it.

Quinley's methodological philosophy on polling was simple: Get it done quick, who cares if it's accurate? He would not balance by region or party I.D. or do anything to weight the data so it was more representative of real political demographics. He only wanted it on time, quick and dirty, to please his clients at CNN. Accuracy was not an overwhelming concern.

Anyway, I know Quinley continued on with Harris after the take-over, though I confess I've not spoken with any of my internal contacts at Harris to know for sure if Quinley is still running their political polling. Last I heard he was in some serious trouble with the management at Harris and may no longer be with the company.

But if Quinley is indeed running the Harris poll, then that will tell you a lot about the quality of the poll and the biases of the man running it. The guy is a far-left Democrat who hated me because I was a Republican. He was literally the worst boss I ever worked for. He was degrading to his employees, foul-mouthed, foul-tempered, rude,had an incredibly offensive and sexually explicit "sense of humor" and had the warmth of a frozen sidewalk.

But even as he lost employee after employee largely because people could not stand working with this disgusting creature, with a turnover rate akin to that of McDonald's, I'm sure he considered himself a "compassionate, caring Democrat in tune with the needs and concerns of the common working man." You can dry that one out and fertilize the lawn with it.

In any event, the fact that the Harris poll did not talk to likely or even registered voters and just whomever happened to answer the phone tells you the poll is not to be looked on as accurate.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.