I do not post very often (to say the least) but I do read these boards all the time. Much of the discussions that I focus on deal with these polls. I would like to address some of these arguments of how these polls could be wrong. I will try to speak in real language, because unfortunately polling has morphed into a business that is filled with statistical jargon targeted to a select few. Polls have become tools of the elite to not only project, but to dictate public opinion. How do polls dictate public opinion you ask? This could be done to suppress turnout, because after all, no one likes to go to the polls and vote for the guy (or gal) they know will lose. It’s a waste of time quite frankly especially since folks have to take off work, wait in lines, and use the gas to go to the polling place.
Let me real quick give you my credentials on polling. I am well on the way to getting my PhD and my specialty is in public opinion polling. I have submitted papers for political science journal articles on (you guessed it) on the Bradley effect. Of course in academia we do not call it the “Bradley effect” but “social desirability effects”. See what I mean about jargon? I also help run a very bar-bones polling operation for the University that I am getting my PhD. Needless to say, polling is like a sausage factory. In other words, the only folks that do not each sausage are those who work in the sausage factory. After working in polling, I am less trustful of polls than many if not most of you. I see how dirty they are, and all that can go wrong.
KnightsofMalta
Steve Maley
Neil Stevens