http://www.freep.com/voices/columnists/erdz10_20041010.htmRON DZWONKOWSKI: Pollsters' predictions
Current methods may prove outdated when the final results are in October 10, 2004
BY RON DZWONKOWSKI
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
The latest numbers. Overnight results. Insta-polls of undecideds. Too tight to call. Within the margin of error. The gap is closing. The bounce is gone. Bush has regained his edge. Kerry is showing why he's a strong closer . . .
Just when you thought it was safe to pick up the phone again, polling is at a fever pitch across the nation and particularly in the "battleground states" such as Michigan.
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I'm wondering about two things: Whether the pollsters will be surprised by the real numbers on Nov. 2, showing this race is not that close, and why the media get all worked up over national poll numbers when the election will be decided by our archaic electoral college system? Does it really matter that Bush leads Kerry 47-43 percent in a nationwide survey? Didn't the 2000 election remind us that popular sentiment doesn't count as much as winning the right combination of states to amass 270 electoral votes?