The problem with elections over the last 30 years--too many polls

[book_worm]

and I'm as much of a poll junkie as anybody but where at one time there were relatively few public polls (Gallup, Harris, Roper, CBS NY Times) now there seems to be dozens of polling operations and this is why the media spends so much time on the 'horse race' rather than issues.

[blm]

1. Exactly - and the polls become the 24/7 news instead of any debate over policies.

..

[aaaaaa5a]

2. Polls use to reflect the story. Now polls drive the story.

As a result, today we have lots of partisan polls designed to influence the race instead of polls that just report what is going on in the race.



CNN had a poll out a month ago. I remember Chuck Todd on MSNBC saying he looked at the cross-tabs and thought it was a little off. He believed the CNN pollsters definitely knew this. He strongly hinted that he thought the poll was weighted to create news more than it was to simply report what was going on in the race.

When Rasmussen polls for FOX, they were charged with doing the same thing.


This is why no "one single poll" (whether its good or bad) should ever be taken on its own face value.