RESPONSE FROM VOTEMASTER at www.electoral-vote.com about bias...

[BUSHOUT]

I sent an email to them asking about "strategic vision", the GOP commissioned polling company that electoral-vote.com uses for thier electoral college map for Florida and a couple others.

His response:

ALL of them have biases. Gallup is very Republican, so is
Rasmussen. Zogby is a Democrat. Nobody's left.

I'm going to ask him who Survey USA is biased for, since that's the most common one he uses on his map.

[BUSHOUT]

1. Here's a fascinating "compare the pollsters" page at electoral-vote..

link here

This guy seems fair. He's doing his best in a biased world!

[Longhorn]

2. I noticed he said today that he's not going to quit using a poll

unless they are caught red-handed doing something that is unethical or illegal (such as a push poll.) Even though several of the polls appear to be biased, unless there's proof that they are purposely biased, he will continue to use them.

I agree that he's trying to do the best he can. He admits when he makes mistakes and he frequently explains his reasoning.

[Warpy]

3. From numerous web articles

I've gleaned the fact that they're a subsidiary of or closely allied with Gannett Publishing, a conglomerate infamous for a distinctly right bias in all their papers. Their sample size is small, typically 500-600 respondents, and so skewed to the right that it could only be gleaned from their newspaper subscriber list.

There's Harris and Pew, not perfect but certainly more reliable than Survey USA, whose only purpose seems to be to poll GOPers to say they're still voting GOP and to try to discourage Democrats from trying to counter the inevitablility of another Bush win.

Electoral-vote.com has had their entire map completely skewed to the far right since they started using Survey USA. They need to drop them, both for the idiotically small sample size and for the obvious bias.

[DarthDem]

4. I Agree With Him, But . . .

. . . is he insinuating that Zogby is biased? If so, I really don't see it. He may be a Democrat, but the guy bends over backwards to be fair, and his model has been proven.

[Renew Deal]

5. I never had the idea that Zogby was biased.

Unless being accurate is a democratic quality.

[StevenD]

8. Lying and inaccuracy seem to be a Republican Quality! nt

[beyurslf]

6. I think he does a fair job since it is tough to trust any pollster.

And think of it this way: He uses Survey USA and we are STILL ahead!!!!

[Downtown Hound]

7. Zogby is not biased

He may be a liberal but he goes out of his way to be fair. He often posts poll results that don't agree with his political ideology, and many Republicans respect him for his talents. Even Limbaugh has been known to quote him on his show for this reason.

[PermanentRevolution]

9. He does his best, I guess

I think it was today that he announced he was taking down the projected maps because the wildly different polls made it just a guessing game, anyway. He's been pretty even-handed, sticking to his "latest poll" methodology even when it was showing a Bush landslide to do it.

[progressivebydesign]

10. SurveyUSA.. "AMERICA'S POLLSTER!"

Guess who they're affiliated with??? USA TODAY! America's Newspaper!! Right wing.

[RummyTheDummy]

11. He's not a Repug

You can fault his methodology all you want, but he's said over and over again that he's a Dem. Usually it's in the anaylsis part at the bottom of the map, just where he shows what states had new polls that day.

I know of at least twice where he's come out and said he's a Dem. Perhaps he has an archive where you could go back and actually inform yourself. I know it's a novel concept but....