Zogby did his drive by shooting in the 2000 election to confuse voters and give the illegal voting of the Rats cover.
The media tried to sour the mood of Republican voters and get them to stay home (all is lost).
The media bang the drum for the first 10 minutes after the East Coast polls closed. They said that Bush had lost because of the economy. After 10 minutes it was clear that Bush would NOT be blown out on election night.
Anyone can check the threads from election day and there are a number of "real time" discussions of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity's daytime radio shows assuring voters that all was not lost and that the election day polls were tilted in favor of Democrats.
The ONLY poll that ever matters is the one at the ballot box. All else is spin.
I disected the media coverage of the 2004 election in this thread (used the article as a springboard to link together a number of concepts).
Jim Emerson: On celebrities, Politics, and movie critics (shilling for Roger Ebert) (October 14, 2004 | Jim Emerson, Editor of RogerEbert.com Posted to FR on 11/06/2004)