Tainted Polling Data

I was at a friend’s house last week when a polling company called his house and asked him who he wanted for President.  He replied by saying that saying my name.  The poll results were published in today’s local newspaper.  The poll showed President Obama getting 51% of the vote, Romney getting 46% of the vote and 3% going to “Undecided.”  There is a problem:  My friend’s opinion didn’t count.  He decided on somebody besides Obama and Romney, but people who decided for anyone besides those two continue to be disenfranchised.

I received an e-mail from a supporter in Wyoming who was also asked to take part in a poll.  She was only given the options of Obama and Romney.  She said that she was stern in saying my name.  The pollster replied by stating that the only choices allowed were Obama and Romney.  The pollster added in a condescending tone that they are the only two who have a chance to win.  She called the pollster names that I can not say here because my mother reads this blog.

I ran an experiment with polling not too long ago.  I would have written about it earlier, but I didn’t.  I took two polls asking different questions and getting different results:

• When asked “Who do you want for President” and given the choices of Obama, Romney, Heare, Gary Johnson, Roseanne Barr,   Jimmy McMillan, or Nobody – President Obama and I are in a statistical dead heat.  (Obama got 49% of the vote while I got 31%, well within the 35% margin of error. )
• When simply asked who they wanted for President with none of the options mentioned, I fared better edging Obama and Romney 32% with 31% each for Obama and Romney and Nobody getting most of the rest.  Gary Johnson got about a dozen votes and Roseanne Barr received one vote.  (The poll got her phone totally by random.)
• When asked “If you were the only voter voting on Election Day and your vote decided who would be President, would you consider voting for Ahmnodt Heare?”, 87% said yes.

Another problem with polls (even my polls) is that they take a national picture and not one that goes by states and electoral votes.  With all of the problems and distortions in polling, I will not be mention polling results in the foreseeable future.  I will also not be partaking in any polls from pollsters because I don’t want to contribute to their distortions any more.

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