Report suggests changes in exit poll methodology

CNN ^ | Wednesday, Jan. 19th 2005

[mike182d]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Exit polls overstated John Kerry's share of the vote on November 2, both nationally and in many states, because more Kerry supporters participated in the survey than Bush voters, according to an internal review of the exit-polling process released Wednesday.

The report said it is difficult to pinpoint precisely why, in general, Kerry voters were more likely to participate in the exit poll than were Bush voters. "There were certainly motivational factors that are impossible to quantify," the report said.

Problems with the numbers first surfaced on Election Day, when exit polls showed Kerry with a 3-point lead nationally and an edge in some key battleground states. Those exit poll results were leaked and became widely known through the Internet.

[mike182d]

The DUmmies are going nuts over this report :-)

[TBall]

It is simple Bush supporters needed to get back to work, while the Kerry supporters had more free time.

[Strategerist]

Basically. Or more likely to have to take the kids to practice, etc.

[jrd]

I would have told them I a lie just to screw up their exit polling!

[FixitGuy]

Same criminals who have been screwing up voting for years,Mitofsky International and Edison Media Research!

When will folks stop giving these subversive people credibility??

[FixitGuy]

This so called "exit polling" has been proved time and time again to be worse than unreliable.

I have never known anyone, who knew anyone, who was "exit polled".

Strangers are supposedly recruited to ask voters questions and then record their answers and turn them in for money.

Does anyone see a bit of a flaw in this scam?

And yet we constantly hear the "News Media" quoting these people, who have repeatedly caused disruptions in elections, then change their name and resurface for the next election.

[Grendel9]

HAH! Good One!

Then there's the fact that some people out-and-out
LIE about how they voted. Others are quick to tell
the interviewer what he wants to hear, and still
others, like Conservatives, will not reveal anything.

[kpp_kpp]

a) Stop wearing DNC t-shirts

b) Rephrase questions like: "Did you vote for the Democratic candidate or the idiot?"

c) Stop being wusses and go up and ask the guys and gals with NRA t-shirts on who they voted for.

d) Males pollsters should stop asking for the phone numbers of male voters.

e) ...

[norwaypinesavage]

"Exit polls overstated John Kerry's share of the vote on November 2, both nationally and in many states, because more Kerry supporters participated in the survey than Bush voters"

With brilliant analysis such as this, I wonder why CNN is not winning the cable wars.

[TheDon]

My suggestion is not to waste money on exit polls. I enjoyed watching a Monty Python movie between the time the polls closed and the election results were being reported.

[Publius6961]

"There were certainly motivational factors that are impossible to quantify," the report said.

Who creates these reports? Grammar school dropouts?

It is a well known psychological failing among the ignorant, the uneducated, the neurotic and the delusional, that the perception of winning is as important as actually accomplishing it, and the wish to be "on the winning side" will sway the normal person to vote irrationally.

Fortunately, only about 30 percent of the population (the young, the clueless, the doped up) will succumb to the temptation. That, plus the hard core hopeless, is, fortunatel still only 48% of the total voters engaged in the political process.

[mewzilla]

The report said it is difficult to pinpoint precisely why, in general, Kerry voters were more likely to participate in the exit poll than were Bush voters.

Snort.

[Publius6961]

I would have told them I a lie just to screw up their exit polling!

My disdain for the concept of "polling" (as a political/propaganda tool ) is such that I have literally never, not ever, told the truth when I have been polled, either in person or on the phone.

That is not ever likely to change. I like the way it's been working...

[OldFriend]

LOLOL.....two words for the polsters......SHOVE IT!!

[OldFriend]

FNC had no problem hiring Zogby to do their phony polls.

[tfecw]

I agree...When polled in person I tell them what they want to hear. Over the phone I like to screw with them. Give them more then a yes or no answer and make the 16 year old kid sorry he took a job cause it paid 10 bucks an hour for talking on the phone.

Sometimes I'll screw with them in person though. Anyone in DC (well DC is the only place I've seen this, I'm sure it happens else where) during election time knows what i mean. Liberals station themselves at all the metro stops handing out propaganda that would bring a smile to Heinrich Himmler's face. One of these clowns stopped me (I'm 23ish so he guessed i to be liberal) I played along and blasphemed a little and convinced him to let me "help" him hand out flyer's at the next station. I grabbed a box...brought them to the station then tossed them all away. For people in DC they were the ones on Social Security with Bush leaning up against the guy in the Nazi uniform.

[rip033]

I'm so surprised the President even does any more press conferences. If you look over the last 4 years how he has been treated by the MSM if I was him I wouldn't even talk to them anymore. I don't know how he can stand there and not go off on them? The lies continue and there are no consequences. 2000 MSM calls Florida prior to the that state's polls closing! Fake memos on his National Guard service! Exit polls overstating the Democratic candidate's results!

Still another whitewash.... A part from AP's story on this.
Problems Found With '04 Exit Polls
Wednesday, January 19, 2005


"The polling firms said they believed the exit poll errors were not the result of the selection of precincts where the interviews took place or the analysis of the data once it was received. They also said they found no evidence to suggest fraud by rigging of polling equipment."

Yeah and CBS showed no bias in reporting their Sept 8th 60 Minutes II story. Give me a break. This is beyond hardball politics. These are pure acts of subversion being done on the American public and this country. It's scary that you cannot trust anything reported anymore. Thank God for FR.

[longtermmemmory]

The left would never leave their blue county reservations to conduct a survey they know the outcome desired.

[CaptRon]

Why bother to fix them? Just eliminate them. They are unoffical, prejudicial and of absolutely no use to anyone but the press.

[longtermmemmory]

The entire translation of this report is that exit polls are no the useful tool of slanting elections early and discouraging republicans from voting.

They are looking for a new method of push polling that is not so obvious. This report is not about achieving accurate results, it is about achieving the desired outcome.