Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

EDITORIAL: Rigging the polls
Washington Times ^ | 09/27/2012 | Editorial Board

Posted on 09/27/2012 3:56:58 AM PDT by nhwingut

Last week New York Times polling guru Nate Silver tweeted, “The. Polls. Have. Stopped. Making. Any. Sense.” They do make a lot of sense if the objective is to help President Obama win a second term — or so Democrats think.

Major election surveys in the last few months have shown Mr. Obama either in the lead or tied for the win, despite an economic record of massive unemployment and astronomical debt. With that kind of baggage, the current Oval Office occupant ought to be trailing by at least 10 points.[SNIP]

Another way to avoid the pitfalls of subjective partisan sampling is to look at the political middle. No candidate has been elected president in the modern era without winning middle-class voters and independents. According to the latest Politico/George Washington University battleground poll, Mr. Romney has a commanding 14-point advantage among middle-class families. According to Gallup, the “pure independents,” those without partisan or ideological affiliation, give Mr. Obama a 37 percent approval rating. Mr. Obama may believe that those who live on government handouts represent a “majority coalition,” but if he loses Middle America he will be off to Hawaii in January.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: mediabias; polls
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

1 posted on 09/27/2012 3:57:01 AM PDT by nhwingut
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: nhwingut

Polls are propaganda sheep herders.


2 posted on 09/27/2012 4:06:48 AM PDT by Eye of Unk (OPSEC)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nhwingut
Here is why I no longer waste time on Fox unless something serious is going on... last night the dark stars were lamenting the polls and Mitt's demise... they all said, “All of these polls can;t be wrong”. I said, “They are not all wrong... Rasmussen... the most accurate over the last 4 elections... does not show what these other media polls show... the difference... the bias to dim voters". I do not think that they heard me... they went on praising obama like they did in 2007.

LLS

3 posted on 09/27/2012 4:26:52 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer ("if it looks like you are not gonna make it you gotta get mean, I mean plumb mad-dog mean" J. Wales)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Eye of Unk

Rush talks about this in his recent article titled, “Dont Let Bogus Polls Depress You”. Good read!

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/09/26/don_t_let_bogus_polls_depress_you

Dickie Morris was on O’Reilly yesterday with a great explanation of how pollsters massage poll numbers to ascertain a trend or to get the result they want. Fascinating! I had no idea. Bottom line: polls have definite limitations and can be easily manipulated to fool the stupid people.


4 posted on 09/27/2012 4:36:25 AM PDT by bopdowah ("Unlike King Midas, whatever the Gubmint touches sure don't turn to Gold!')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: nhwingut
A new meme is that not reelecting Obama is racist.

So, "Once you vote black, you can never go back." is not a racist statement?

5 posted on 09/27/2012 4:36:34 AM PDT by Aevery_Freeman (All Y'all White Peoples is racist!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nhwingut

Just like the liberal media, polling firms are not concerned about credibility.

What they both seek is relevance, and the pollsters get that only by helping the media distort the reality that America is extremely angry with Barack Obama, and will summarily give him the hook in November.

The polls completely missed the 2010 mid-terms, in hundreds of races. They missed the Wisconsin recall by 6 to 8 points, yet the liberal media asks us to believe them.

Polls have value only to the extent that they help bolster the liberal media’s goal here, to prevent the exposure of the absolute meltdown liberalism and the Democratic Party is currently experiencing.


6 posted on 09/27/2012 4:36:57 AM PDT by wayoverontheright
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wayoverontheright

Well put.


7 posted on 09/27/2012 4:38:31 AM PDT by Jet Jaguar (The pundits have forgotten the 2010 elections.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: nhwingut

This election would be a great time to sink the polling organizations, so discrediting them that it would take them years to recover. Surely inventive conservatives will think of their own ways of doing this when they are contacted by polling businesses.


8 posted on 09/27/2012 4:42:07 AM PDT by txrefugee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibLieSlayer

Fox has been in the tank for the Democrat nominee each of the last three cycles. If you remember, they were nearly cheerleading for Kerry in 2004. They heaped praise on his speech at the convention and in the debates. In 2008, they ignored Obama’s record and even guys like Krauthammer (who had previously warned of Obama’s lefism) fell under the spell of his speeches. They gave Obama airtime DURING the RNC convention. Their polls are also awful.

Fox is not much different than the rest during presidential election cycles.


9 posted on 09/27/2012 4:42:50 AM PDT by ilgipper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: nhwingut

Maybe these outrageous numbers will make some dumbocrats stay home because he already “won” the election. Just the opposite of what the pollsters want. Ah, poetic justice.


10 posted on 09/27/2012 4:47:00 AM PDT by CPOSharky (zero slogan: Expect less, pay more. (apologies to Target))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CPOSharky

Yeah, I’m thinking the same thing now. A lot of Dem voters are lazy. Yet I know those of us voting against Obama will walk over broken glass to cast a vote for Romney and Ryan,

Could be wishful thinking, but at least I can rationalize that these polls will take the edge off the community organizers trying to get out the O vote.


11 posted on 09/27/2012 4:50:28 AM PDT by SteveAustin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: LibLieSlayer

Yep. I no longer watch FOX at all. I used to watch regularly (other than Shep) - from 4pm on — Cavuto, Five (Beck before), Special Report, OReilly, etc. Now I only watch Hannity and sometimes Greta. The TV is turned to History Channel now most of the time, with a little King of Queens for some laughs.

They go out of their way to get the liberal point of view. I find myself muting the button too much. Not worth my blood pressure.


12 posted on 09/27/2012 4:57:33 AM PDT by nhwingut (Sarah Palin 12... No One Else)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: nhwingut

I think Romney will win but not by as much as he should given Obama’s awful record. Obama has been a rank failure at everything he’s tried except for being the president when Bin-Laden got killed. And he’s trying to milk that one to death. One or two millions votes.


13 posted on 09/27/2012 5:02:59 AM PDT by driftless2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nhwingut

Yes, I just cannot see how anyone that goes to the store or the gas pump is still drooling for the re-election of Obama. The man has been and will continue to be a disaster for this country, in many different facets.


14 posted on 09/27/2012 5:04:23 AM PDT by Molon Labbie (Prep. Now. Live Healthy, take your Shooting Iron daily.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bopdowah

I actually watched Morris yesterday (irritating voice and all) The explanation was a good one.

Unfortunately, you can’t fix stupid...and the uninformed will believe it as much as a 30 second ad.

All that aside, I still think this will be the mother of all upsets on 11.6.2012

I wish for once I could have a wall of TV screens tuned to lieral channels to watch their collective heads explode.


15 posted on 09/27/2012 5:07:52 AM PDT by SueRae (See it? Hell, I can TASTE November from my house!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: ilgipper

100% agree.

LLS


16 posted on 09/27/2012 5:17:39 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer ("if it looks like you are not gonna make it you gotta get mean, I mean plumb mad-dog mean" J. Wales)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: nhwingut
Same here... fox was on 24/7 for years... now only when something big is breaking... and cnn has better breaking news. How pathetic is that?! I have been watching The Big Bang Theory.

LLS

17 posted on 09/27/2012 5:19:38 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer ("if it looks like you are not gonna make it you gotta get mean, I mean plumb mad-dog mean" J. Wales)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Aevery_Freeman

There’s an easy out for people who elected Obama in 2008 so as to not appear racist but don’t want to re-elect him, and I’ll bet they know it. They can claim to have been “unable to decide and left it blank.” Even if they vote Romney in the privacy of the voting booth, that little white lie to their friends is a free “Immune From Racist Charge” card.


18 posted on 09/27/2012 5:23:13 AM PDT by Windcatcher (Obama is a COMMUNIST and the MSM is his armband-wearing propaganda machine.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

sfl


19 posted on 09/27/2012 5:41:00 AM PDT by phockthis (http://www.supremelaw.org/fedzone11/index.htm ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: nhwingut

We have polls showing Romney ahead among middle class voters by 15%, they show him with an 11% lead among independents yet these same pollsters expect us to believe that he trails odumbo overall? The audacity of Propoganda!


20 posted on 09/27/2012 5:42:33 AM PDT by pgkdan (A vote for anyone but Romney is a vote for obama. GO MITT!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson