OK, I think we NEED to know : WILL there be independent exit polls we can trust?

[BelgianMadCow]

This is so obvious and so basic that I should know already. But I don't.

I see that http://www.electionintegrity.org/exitpoll.shtml is accepting donations for one, but they say about it "A pilot version of the Election Verification Exit Poll will be up and running in November 2006".

The Election Defense Alliance (Paul Lehto on the board) is doing the same.
http://electiondefensealliance.org/independent_exit_polls
But here I do not know what the status is.

Both seem trustworty and a good cause for your money. Anyone with more or more detailed info, please...

[dipsydoodle]

1. For safety

only on a UK election. :)

[Atman]

2. Try common sense.

I know it's not scientific, but even Hannity's guests can't stand Bush, what's left? "Poll" your neighborhood and your friends...what is the prevailing sentiment? Who is supporting the GOP? NO ONE!

The thread from a few days ago about wearing blue to the polls (political ads on shirts are illegal in most precincts) makes a lot of sense, just as an informal "exit poll." Ask around. Talk to everybody, whether you know their affiliation or not. You'll quickly find that virtually no one except fundies and a few brain-dead zombies will offer a positive comment about the GOP. The GOP "won" last time by razor thin margins, and most of the voting blocs that elected them have abandoned them in droves. Soccer moms, real conservatives, real republicans, working people, the middle class, blacks, ANYONE who supported Bush and the GOP last time has turned on him...except his 1%. So who is left? Use some common sense. The math just doesn't work. How do they win with a 51% "mandate," then lose 75% if their support, and still emerge victorious? Read the mood of the country? NO ONE except Fox News running anything positive about the GOP.

When even Wolf Blitzer starts turning on them, you just have to wonder how any GOP victory is possible at all. Again, I know it's not scientific, but shit, this ain't rocket science. The GOP has worked hard to belittle science and make Americans doubt polling, but the polling is a real and accurate now as it always was before BushCo managed to plant the seeds of doubt in everyone's mind. Just don't fall for their bullshit!

.

[BelgianMadCow]

3. I thought I hád common sense, but

your point is, if I understand correctly, that everything points to a dem landslide. I agree with that.
I just figured, when anomalies occur like in OHIO 2004, we should have the detailed exit poll results available to counter. I suppose you agree with that, right?

Your point then is that an exit poll isn't needed to challenge the stealing if and when it occurs.
Well, after rereading your answer, it's true that such an exit poll is not needed to convince us.
It's not needed to convince Bush*co either, anyone who tears the constitution apart to justify war crimes is not going to be bothered by some numbers on a paper.

Maybe it is needed to convince the media or the as of yet uninformed part of the public.

Personaly, I'd trust such a poll quite a bit more than the election, and as I have no way to touch base about the US outlook on 06 except DU (foreigner), I would really like to have such a poll to know the TRUTH in cold hard numbers.

[Atman]

4. Yeah...I agree that my answer was worthless, reality-wise

It is just so frustrating to even have to discuss this. I mean, I just don't ever run into anybody happy with the current situation. I have several republican friends, and with every single one of them it is one of two stories: "I'm a libertarian! I never liked the GOP!" or it's "I used to vote republican, but never again!" I do know one guy, who I've written about before on DU, who is a candidate for the FR hall of fame...he swears the ACLU and "the liberals" want to sandblast religious symbols off tombstones in public cemeteries. I consider those guys too far gone too even talk to. Totally out of touch with reality. But for the most part, I hang with a very mixed group of people, politics-wise, and NO ONE is supporting the GOP. At least, publicly. Maybe that's the keyword, "publicly." KKKarl wants us all to believe there are so many like them that will secretly vote GOP even though they hate The Party, that they'll be able to hold on to power. I say BULLSHIT. Total bullshit.

The good news is, there is another thread on DU today about a new exit-polling org that is going independent of the cabal of national news enablers for the GOP. THAT is what we really need. We simply cannot rely upon the same enablers and supporters who put these criminals in power to provide us with accurate polling data. We need to go outside the corporate system, and it appears someone is actually doing it. We can only hope.

.