Why do conservatives say polls mean nothing when they show democrats in the lead?

Question

This has been a pretty consistent thing. Is it self-delusion or a conscious knowledge that republicans will break any law (and have) in order to win.

Do they also ignore the polls when they say republicans will win?

I've got news for them:

Pollsters seek accuracy. They want to predict what will really happen. Otherwise nobody would listen to them. How is this biased?

Also, exactly how does the mainstream media have a liberal bias when every major news network and outlet is owned by large powerful corporations (which usually benefit from the republicans pro-business outlook)?

Answer 1

For your first question: Republicans think they can even control reality. What is- just is. Republicans are notorious for complimenting the emperor on his fine new clothes when the emperor, in reality, is naked- remember that fairy tale? They are always trying to create their own reality and tell us what to think. On your last question- good point. Corrupt people have to lie to sustain their way of life. The best way to do it is to own the media and try to control how we perceive things. If the Democrats are not in the lead, they will be. This Republican reign of power has talked down to the American people long enough.

Answer 2

For the same reason Democrats say polls don't matter when they show Republicans in the lead. It is called "SPIN" and both parties employ very highly paid SPIN DOCTORS. It is the nature of the political beast.

And although rare polls often miss the mark. For example take the last Presidential race. The Evangelical conservative voters.....democrat, republican and independent.....flew below the radar. When they turned out in numbers much greater than expected what was predicted to be a tight race was over before midnight. Conversely in every national election in my memory....which goes back more than 50 years......the pollsters almost always say the "young voters" are going to have a profound influence on the election. But the "young voters" have yet to live up to predicted influence. In this election the polls are saying the "young voters" will have a huge impact. That poll prediction has not materialized ever in the past so how much veracity is that poll prediction today? We will see in less than a week but don't bet the family farm on the 20 somethings.

No one on the street pays much attention to polls any longer because they have just mushroomed in number. Pols and media guys discuss polls every night on the cable shows. After getting a steady diet of polls 24/7 = 365 they have ceased to have any real meaning for most of us accurate or not.

Answer 3

What polls? They all depend on how the questions are asked. The media and liberals like you completely distort the results on a regular basis. For example, on the Santorum/Casey race in PA. The media has been clamoring about Casery's lead, yet he has had less than 50% of the voters polled, even including the margin of error.

When the race is 50-48% with a 3.5% margin of error, there is no leader. It is a statistical tie. Look at the polling numbers and you will see that there are a lot of undecided people.

You know why people like you contstantly say Republicans steal elections: because you will never look at what liberals do wrong. It is always someone else.

Also, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, NY Times company are all run by liberals. As usual, all talk, no facts.

Answer 4

Pollsters often poll "registered voters" rather than likely voters.

"Likely voter" samples include a higher percentage of whites and Republicans. That's just a fact. Some news organizations don't like using polls that "skew" to whites and Republicans, so they use the "registered voter" polls. But it's apples and oranges! So there's one reason why polls may be slightly more favorable to Democrats than the actual votes.

Interesting point on the media. If they have shareholders, these shareholders will demand that they make money. So one would think the networks would do what they could to maximize audience. (I believe the New York Times is privately owned, by the way.) I thought about this also in the context of talk radio, which is very conservative. I assume that if a liberal made them as much money, the stations would put one on. Maybe different media outlets have different kinds of customers.

Answer 5

You should not so utterly believe in a poll. You must as who took the poll? What questions were asked and in what order? What groups were questioned? Pollsters do tend to have a bias. This is the simple fact of the matter. You must always question the intent and motives.
Also, the media is biased. Republicans have a greater strength over industry, not however over TV land. Haven't you noticed the liberal presence in Hollywood and the film industry in general?

Answer 6

It is easier to say that then to except that right this moment the Democrats are ahead but polls change at different times so nobody should worry when it changes until the last day and the election is over so sit back fellows and ladies an in joy the ride. One of the parties will win.

Answer 7

They do mean something.

Having said that, Republicans tend to vote more than Democrats so the issue becomes who will show up.

Also, to the extent the media has painted some issues like immigration as racist/xenophobic issues, not everyone is going to want to tell pollsters how they feel. Polls in California had prop 187 losing (denying benefits to illegal immigrants) but it won by a large margin.

So, polls mean something, but they don't mean everything.

Answer 8

Polls can mean very little. You can get the result that you want when you conduct them.

For example, if I wanted to, I could show the President's approval rating at 75%, it all depends on who I ask, where I ask them, and how I phrase the question. As well as the order of the choices.

Answer 9

Polls alone mean nothing.
You also have to look at who is
doing the poll, what the actual
question was, how many people
where sampled and where the
poll was conducted. Without this
extra info, you can pretty much make
any poll come out the way you want
it.

Answer 10

For one thing, most polls are taken in random pickings of 1000 people. Random or not 1000 people are not enough to get an fairly accurate number.

Keep in mind the exit polls in 2004 had Kerry winning by a landslide.