For those who worked Dem campaigns in 2004 - were you ever told to lie to

[blm]

pollsters as a campaign tactic?

I never heard this happening from any Dem camp, and I would expect that I'd have heard it since I am privvy to alot of political stories, and even many of the censored stories that don't make it to print.

So - was lying to pollsters, especially exit-polling ones, ever encouraged by the Dem camps you worked for as some on DU have claimed to explain away the exit polling in 2004?

I can definitely say NEVER, in the 30 plus years I have helped out at campaigns.

[OzarkDem]

1. No, never heard it n/t

[rodeodance]

2. no, of course not.

[northzax]

3. no, what's the point?

why bother lying to exit pollsters? there is no advantage for anyone.

[blm]

6. every now and then a DU poster claims Dem campaigns lie purposefully to

exit pollsters to suppress an opponent's vote.

I was never asked to do so EVER, and have never even heard of any Dem camp using that tactic. This thread is to call attention to the fact that this bad information is being spread here at DU as if the tactic is commonplace.

We have alot of activist Dems here so I want to know straight up - Were ANY of us told to lie to pollsters by any Dem campaign anywhere in the country?

I'm in NC and NEVER was asked to lie, and was never asked to lie when I was in Ohio or Califormia, either.

[northzax]

13. why would that supress anyone's vote?

since they don't report exit polls until the polls are closed? it doesn't make logical sense.

personally, I lie to pollsters all the time, about everything from the detergent I use to the amount of money I make, but an exit poll is a pretty meaningless lie.

[blm]

15. allegedly it is done to discourage the other side from getting out their

voters if they think it won't matter.

I think this is a load of crap, and I want it exposed as such, but I thought I'd use this method of getting it out there and letting it either fly or fall on its own.

[bemildred]

4. I always lie to pollsters. Nobody ever suggested it to me. nt

[NWHarkness]

5. Absolutely not

And I was in a position where, if it happening, I'd have been in the thick of it.

[samfishX]

7. Of Course!

Why, lying to pollsters is as American as apple pie!


Well...if you're a Republican, at least.

[infogirl]

8. I was a Kerry staffer and I knew on the inside...

we only cared about John Zogby's polling...as the corp.media was skewing polls...to make it look even or 49-51 as to be able to do the "flip" overnight!


It's Election Fraud...not Vote Fraud..we did nothing wrong!

It is "voter verified paper ballot" not "paper trail". The law to count only protects a ballot...

and the total that is official is the machine count..not the receipts! That needs to be flipped! The machine totals...are looked at ...but the ballot is what is COUNTED!

Common Cause called and asked if I was for a "paper trail" I let them have it...and said not another cent from me until you get it right ...damn it!

[BlueIris]

29. Nice!

[sandnsea]

31. Never heard Zogby

I always understood they had their own internal pollster, wish I could remember the name right now. But the internals had Kerry moving in Iowa long before the mainstream ones did. I never sensed that Zogby was trusted by anybody in the campaign any more than the rest, at least not by the staffers I knew.

But no, nobody ever told me to lie and I never told anybody else to lie. Although I will answer polls based on what I think the purpose of the poll is, no matter what I personally believe on particular issues.

[liberalitch]

9. Why would I lie?

What would be the point?
We're right anyways.

[ginnyinWI]

10. no, never. n/t

[Nimrod2005]

11. Never....Never even heard of such thing!

[blm]

30. Neither did I till it was posted here at DU - and this thread proves I was

right to be skeptical of the claims that were made.

[liberal N proud]

12. NO!

If I had, I probably would have walked out the door.

[Totally Committed]

14. Never.

Not once was it even intimated.

TC

[RogueTrooper]

16. No

Nothing like this happened in the Dean campaign. This would be very hard to do: To do it in such numbers as the affect the pollesters numbers would involve a huge number of voters; whilst this may be logistically possible, to do so in secret would be improbable.

blm, on the posters who claim that campaigns were getting their vote to fib to pollsters: Sometimes paranoids don't have enemies ;-)

[displacedtexan]

17. No!

That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard.

[blm]

20. Some people will say anything to dissuade us from the machine fraud issue

and this is just another tactic as far as I can see, based on the replies in this thread.

[mod mom]

18. ABSOLUTELY NOT! I worked as a volunteer full time in Franklin Co OH,

which was considered ground zero for activity. I organized a 300+ volunteer organization in my near east suburb of Cols Oh. I worked directly with field organizers, and I can honestly say I never was asked or heard of anyone asking any person involved with the campaign to lie, be deceitful or do anything unethical. Everyone I worked with and met were pushing a "take the high road" strategy.

[blm]

24. I am especially glad to hear this from an Ohio worker - because it was the

election fraud issue in Ohio that instigated a reply on the other thread where a poster made the claim that the exit polls were purposely skewed by Democratic campaign workers in Ohio to depress the GOP vote.

We get all kinds here at DU don't we?

[wicket]

19. NO!!!!

n/t

[leftofthedial]

21. never

that I heard or heard of

[welshTerrier2]

22. the exit polls were right!

RFK Jr. said he interviewed all kinds of statisticians and polling experts ... they concluded the odds of the exit polls being wrong to the extent the fraudulent election results indicated they were were greater than 60 million to one ...

he said the election results, given the exit polls, were fabricated ... it was impossible for the exit polls to have been that wrong ...

[blm]

23. This campaign to claim that Dems purposely skewed exit polls sounded like

another cover up tactic to distract from the real issue of MACHINE FRAUD.

So far, this thread is proving I was right to be suspicious of the claim. I appreciate all the replies from all over the country.

[welshTerrier2]

25. RFK Jr. on polls

he said that pre-election polling can sometimes be inaccurate because someone might tell you they support candidate X but then they might not actually go out to vote at all ...

exit polling, he said, was much more accurate because you are asking voters what they actually had JUST DONE; not what they planned to do at when the election rolled around ...

if DU'ers reading this sub-thread haven't seen the recently released critically important study done by the highly reputable Brennan (former Supreme Court justice) Center, here's a link to the executive summary: http://www.brennancenter.org/programs/downloads/Executive%20Summary.pdf

the machines are bogus; the process is bogus, and the exit polls were right!

[welshTerrier2]

26. although, according to one Kerry supporter ...

"RFK Jr is about as far left as you can go without being an out and out socialist."

maybe we just shouldn't listen to those "far lefties" at all ...

[blm]

27. This lefty supporter of Kerry's IS a socialist, and pretty proud of it. ;)

I am also a Democrat because after growing up in a poor family with 12 kids, you learn to deal with reality.

[sandnsea]

32. That would be me, and he is

Although I didn't say he shouldn't be listened to, in fact I said I like RFK Jr a great deal. But he is far left. I think most people, even Kerry supporters, know I disagree with many of the stolen election claims and we just agree to disagree. No biggie.

Don't think you can smear me behind my back and get away with it.

[BlueIris]

28. HELL, no. Because: stupid.

[IowaGuy]

33. no,,,,we were to busy gettin' voters to worry much about what

pollsters were doing. Besides everybody knows each pollster has certain biases and agendas, all the way from the disgusting acts of push pollsters to the vacuous and meaningless internet polls to the skewed polls of Rasmussen\Gallup\CNN\Times, etc etc.

Polls were interesting to watch to identify trends but were meaningless snapshots as far as taking any single number seriously. Private polls directed by campaigns (not the push polls) were the most interesting, because of the insights that could be derived from how a particular strategy or message was being received (or not).

[Crunchy Frog]

34. Huh?

I can't even imagine how this would work. Lie about supporting him when you really didn't, just to fuck with the polls, and doing it because you were working on his campaign?:crazy:

[Awsi Dooger]

35. It was poor sampling and possibly reluctant Bush supporters, not lies

I only worked GOTV on election day itself, but no I wasn't asked to lie. We were so poorly coordinated I don't think that would have made it to me even if it were a priority. Anyone who thinks canvassing or GOTV is high tech should try it sometime.

The exit poll issue would have much more weight if some of them weren't so blatantly absurd, namely the numbers in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and New York. Anyone who follows statewide voting tendencies knows the numbers the exit polls spit out in those states were pure garbage.

Here is an excellent link on the exit poll issue specifically regarding the claims of RFK and Freeman. Very long read but well worth it if you want to understand the process and what can go wrong. The previous three segments are recommended also: http://www.mysterypollster.com/main/2006/07/is_rfk_jr_right.html#more