Don't fear the polls, part 2
Sep. 11th, 2004 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petardierBush's 2 point bounce worse ever for an incumbent president. Ruy Teixeira digs into the polls to tell you how they get their numbers and what's wrong with with which polls here:
http://gadflyer.com/articles/?ArticleID=203
I mentioned before how polls are primarily of interest to the press as a means for demonstrating that there's still a horse race going on. The party in the lead has a strong interest in emphasizing that lead with the most favorable polling data they can find. Why? To discourage the opposition from voting. You win by getting your side out to vote and by convincing individual voters on the other side that their single votes won't matter. Don't fall for it. Remember Florida. 500 votes was enough. And remember the shabby tricks they pulled there to block people from voting.
http://gadflyer.com/articles/?ArticleID=203
I mentioned before how polls are primarily of interest to the press as a means for demonstrating that there's still a horse race going on. The party in the lead has a strong interest in emphasizing that lead with the most favorable polling data they can find. Why? To discourage the opposition from voting. You win by getting your side out to vote and by convincing individual voters on the other side that their single votes won't matter. Don't fall for it. Remember Florida. 500 votes was enough. And remember the shabby tricks they pulled there to block people from voting.
