Posted on 10/15/2002 10:28:39 AM PDT by Lx
Cast official vote; let others ‘Freep’
The United States should declare war against Iraq.
That’s what most Americans think, according to the majority of opinion polls taken on the subject.
A Gallup poll released last week suggests 53 percent of Americans favor a U.S.-led ground invasion of Iraq. The Exponent online opinion poll from Oct. 8 showed that 72 percent of Exponent readers support a war in Iraq.
But there’s just one problem — these are opinion polls and they don’t mean a thing. And depending on how they are interpreted, they can mean anything.
A Harris opinion poll released last week showed 49 percent of Americans think the United States should take military action against Iraq. But of that 49 percent, only 39 percent (19 percent of all adults) favor attacking Iraq if Saddam Hussein allows weapons inspectors to return.
But even after you decipher what the polls are saying, you still have to wonder about their credibility.
The Exponent’s online poll is a prime example of this. Ever since we started the poll in mid-September the response has been fairly steady. Depending on the subject we usually receive about 100 to 250 votes per day — unless the subject is Iraq.
Twice in the last month we have asked questions concerning America’s involvement with a war in Iraq. For the first Iraq question, "Do you think the U.S. should attack Iraq?" we received 521 votes. The second question we asked, "Do you think President Bush has adequately explained why the U.S. should attack Iraq?" received 402 responses.
Of course you can argue that the first poll received so many votes because it was posted on the weekend and was up for three days as opposed to one, but our other weekend poles still averaged only 250 votes. Or you could argue people truly care about America going to war with Iraq and want to voice their opinions on the subject.
That’s what I thought, too — then I learned about the "Freep."
"Freeping," I have learned, is a term used by members of FreeRepublic.com — a Web site that labels itself as being on the front line of conservative activism. "Freeping" is basically the practice of logging on to various Web sites and voting for issues that the Freepers deem important.
The way it works is that one member will stumble upon a Web poll and will then post a link to that Web poll on the FreeRepublic Web site asking members to vote a certain way on a certain issue. Both questions The Exponent has asked about Iraq have been Freeped.
Of course, the Freepers are doing nothing illegal — I just find it completely pathetic. Even more pitiful are the messages posted along with the request to "Freep."
"The liberal university wackos (sic) are currently winning.... Freep them good," was posted by Freeper "Sword of Gideon."
The only question I have is, winning what? It’s a freaking opinion poll — yes, I support your right to think whatever you want to think, but this isn’t a competition. What the heck do you want to win?
But winning aside, some of the posts just make me laugh.
"Every poll I’ve seen in the past few days on the Internet is showing President Bush has done a good job explaining about war against Iraq. Don’t hear them repeated due to the results...KEEP FREEPING!" was posted by alert Freeper "TatieBug."
I just have one question for Ms. (or is it Mr.?) Bug — why do you think no one publishes the results of those online polls you "Freep"? Is it because of some deep, dark liberal media conspiracy? Or is it because you so skew the results that the polls no longer matter? I’d be willing to bet that it’s the latter, but that’s probably just my media-biased liberalness talking.
I guess what I’m really trying to say is that opinion polls don’t matter. Regardless of how they are conducted, regardless of how scientific these polls are, regardless of how the numbers are represented, opinion polls ultimately mean nothing.
But voting does.
Voting is the true American opinion poll. It’s a tragedy that so many politicians today rely on the opinion polls to formulate policy. It’s a mockery of more than 200 years of democratic rule that today’s politicians check their standings in the polls daily. It’s shameful that we allow these fence-sitting, conscienceless "leaders" stay in office.
Whatever your stance on whatever issue you have, voting is the only way your voice will truly be heard — regardless of how many polls you "Freep."
If you’re mad at or disagree with the politicians in office — don’t vote for them when election times roll around. If you like the people in office and the decisions they’ve made or might make, reelect them. If you didn’t vote, then be happy with the way things are.
The ballot box is the only opinion poll that means anything — I appreciate you voting on The Exponent’s poll, but the country will benefit more if you vote in November.
Dave Stephens is a senior in the School of Agriculture. He can be reached via e-mail at editor@purdueexponent.org.
College News Editor chides Poll "Freepers"
Funny thing, THEY don't even mention their own "Anti-FReep" votes at these sites.
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