THIS INFORMATION CAN NOT BE FOUND ON THE MSNBC SITE. THEY DO NOT PROVIDE A LINK IN THEIR NEWSWEEK SECTION AND NOW WE KNOW WHY.
Total Sample - 1,009 Registered Voters - 901
Therefore, 108 polled are not registered to vote. That means 11% of the people polled are not registered to vote.
Also, 40% of registered voters will not vote.
Therefore, 361 of the 901 registered voters sampled will NEVER vote.
This means only 540 of the 1,009 people polled will vote.
This means 53.5% of the people polled will vote, 46.5% of the people polled will NEVER vote.
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Now let's look at party affiliation:
Republicans - 300
Democrats - 334
Independents - 331
Other - 44
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Republicans - 29.7%
Democrats - 33.1%
Independents - 32.8%
Other - 4.4%
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Newsweek undersamples Republicans. 29% is 8 points lower than how many Republicans voted in 2004.
Much like the CBS poll, Newsweek buries people who lean Democrat in the Independent and Other columns. A useful trick for pollsters who bury their oversampling.
Today, Rasmussen has President Bush at a 50% approval among 'likely voters' and a 47% approval among 'national adults'.
FAKE POLLS DO NOT TRANSLATE INTO REAL VOTERS!!!!!!!
These "polls" do not take into consideration the number of "DemocRATS" who identify themselves to the "media" as being a "veteran" and/or a "Republican who voted for Bush." The DNC has instructed it's useful idiots on how to play this game. Republicans who are called to participate in these "polls" should start identifying themselves as "Democrats" who didn't vote for Bush but are totally in awe of the job he is doing.
The poll does NOT purport to be a poll of voters. It's a poll of public opinion (i.e., national adults 18 and over). Just because someone doesnt vote doesnt mean they dont have an opinion. If they were predicing a Kerry victory based on this poll, then yeah the political composition of voters matters but the poll is not about voters and who they are going to vote for, its about what the people of the country believe/feel about an issue. I guess your point is if someone doesnt know how to organize effectively to get their vote counted, their opinion is worth shit.
And how do you know that some portion of voters who are normally Republican havent changed thier perception of themselves to independent based upon any number of factors: Katrina, the war, immigration and borders, etc. Shit happens you know. Maybe Republicans are not so proud to be Republicans these days?
There are approximately 290,000,000 people in the US. The accuracy of any poll drops dramatically if the sample is less than 10% of the population for which you are applying the results. Unless Newsweek polled 29,000,000 people, the poll is garbage, as are all polls.
ping
The Newsweek people will tell you that party IDs go up and down all the time, and since they're not constant, it makes no sense to screen for them. The Dems were screeming all last summer because a Gallup poll that showed Bush ahead also sampled comparitively more Repubs than Rats. Why was this? Because with Kerry at the helm of the party, many fewer Americans wanted to identify themselves as Rats.
John Kerry found that out!!
These polls have no purpose of measuring public opinion. They have a single purpose, which is to destroy the Presidency of George Bush. I skipped past MSNBC on the way to another channel, and as they showed the President live at Andrews on his way to LA, they ballyhooed this poll. They said one of the questions was answered by only 38% saying they have trust that that George Bush can make good decisions for America at home or abroad, while 54 or 56% (forgot which) answered that they no longer trust the President to make any wise decisions on any issues, whether domestic or foreign. I believe this poll is the most garbage poll I have seen in a long time.
"Today, Rasmussen has President Bush at a 50% approval among 'likely voters' and a 47% approval among 'national adults'. "
I didn't know you could consider Democrats as "adults".
Besides, conservatives don't read Newsweek ot Times - not if they have any brains that is.
When "news" organizations start citing polls I know they aren't "reporting" anything. They are MAKING news, not REPORTING it! They have an agenda and they think we are too stupid to know it.