Why would Bushies bias the polls for Bush?

[Silent3]

If Bush were doing really badly, I could understand how trying to make Bush look better could boost morale.

But in a close race, wouldn't a poller who was trying to skew the numbers to help Bush try to get Bush a point or two behind Kerry, to energize the Republican get-out-the-vote effort? Doesn't making it look like Bush is ahead invite complacency?

I'm expecting (or at least hoping) there are other factors that make many of the poll numbers we see unreliable -- I think dem voters are more revved up and registered in higher numbers this time around, for one thing. Then there's cell phone-only people (tend to be younger, probably more democratic) not being polled, the way last-minute undecided voters tend to swing to the challenger, etc.

But I still don't get how making Bush look better in the polls would actually help Bush, so why do people seeing polls that favor Bush suspect that biased manipulation of those polls is at work?

[still_one]

1. To demoralize the other side

[Silent3]

5. But does it really, historically work that way?

My suspicion is that, as long as a race is tight, the people who are behind, just a little behind, will be more motivated to get out and vote.

[prodigal_green]

2. Makes it easier when they steal the election

in the swing states.

[LSdemocrat]

3. To make it look like he has the Joementum

[politicaholic]

4. Morons who haven't made up their minds yet go w/ the pop. candidate-

5% of the population are in that catagory.

The same % that believe Elvis is still alive.

You make the call.

[punpirate]

6. Very simple...

... with polls running slightly for Bush before the election, if (when) Kerry wins, they can use that to push legal action to delay election certification, ala Florida 2000.

It might not make a good legal argument, but it's bound to be picked up by the mainstream press as justification for the Bushies challenging multiple state elections.

[xray s]

7. Rove is a big believer in the 'bandwagon effect"

People want to go with a winner, go with the herd.

[Starlight]

9. Exactly. They're trying to appeal to the sheep vote. n/t

[DuaneBidoux]

10. Then he should be REAL concerned about what the Democratic

Rallys look like right now next to Shrubs rallys.

[rocktivity]

14. Ding ding ding! DuaneBidoux, you're our grand prize winner!

Their problem is, the Kerry supporters aren't buying it. Thanks to the Internet, the mainstream media isn't their only source of information, and it gives them the power to do a little campaigning of their own!

:headbang:
rocknation

[DuaneBidoux]

16. Yea' and I was just talking of the images coming from Kerry's events

They're simply huge. We're talking number 3 and 4 times greater than any Shrub event.

[KT2000]

8. Here is a scenario

Polls show Bush lead, networks call it for Bush early, the Supreme Court decision from 2000 says that Bush would suffer irreparable harm if recounts were allowed to happen. Bush is reinstalled.

[novadem]

11. That is a nightmare scenario!

[Vincardog]

13. BAD Scenario BAD BAD SCENARIO I will not have it

[KT2000]

15. Lawyers just have to be ready

knowing that the networks calling the election has an effect on a legal decision. We should keep be on our toes to denounce the practice and file complaints IMMEDIATELY if they do call it prematurely for Bush. Remember Robert Welch and NBC??

[rocktivity]

12. Because we KNOW they're biased

They're deliberately poll a higher percentage of Republicans than actually exist (oversampling). Bush comes out ahead, the pollsters can claim they didn't cheat, and they can continue to get business from the republican party (pollsters are not nonprofit institutions). A month or two ago, a state GOP chairperson arranged for a demonstration at a newspaper because its poll showed Kerry ahead. On what grounds? They accused the pollster of oversampling Democrats, of course!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Maiden England]

17. to grab the sheeple vote, and to steal the election

nt