(no subject)

[stonebender]

What would be wrong with making polling around election time illegal? I'm frustrated at how election coverage is reduced to who is or who is not the front runner. How is it possible that Schwarzenegger gained so much in the polls after his one and only "debate"? Were people's expectations so incredibly low that his ability to speak in full sentences was all he needed to do to impress people?

Comments

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

What would be wrong with making polling around election time illegal?

Well, there is that little matter of the 1st amendment....

(Not that I don't sympathize with your point.)

[stonebender.livejournal.com]

Well, the question was facetious really. :-)

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

Making polling around election time illegal scares me because I'm beginning to think that exit polls are going to be the only way to find out who won. I know, I know, they're not reliable. But they're more reliable than cooked voting machine software ...

One of the things I liked about the beginning of the recall process was that the extreme and wacko candidates were getting press for their views. Even in the debate, which I didn't watch, I gather that Huffington, Camejo, and McClintock forced the mainstream guys to actually discuss some issues.

But now that's gone.

[stonebender.livejournal.com]

And if Schwarzenegger wins the election, the mainstream parties could take it to mean that talking about issues won't win you the election. Claiming you're an outsider and an agent of change is all you have to do. The less specific the better. Was it the L.A. Times that recently did a poll which had to Schwarzenegger winning the election. However when the same people were asked who had the most useful experience to be governor, Schwarzenegger came in last with only 6 percent of the vote. How can people make sense of such thing?

[rmjwell.livejournal.com]

Do you have a link to the poll or polls in question? A lot of it can be the wording of the questions.

[stonebender.livejournal.com]

Yes wording in polls is important. Methodology is too. It's part of my problem with reporting poll results. Folks hear the results and don't know how or don't bother to interpret the results. Then it becomes a fact which impacts how people vote or don't vote. Now here I am doing the very same thing. I heard about the poll I referred to on TV and now I can't find a link for it. Sorry.

[joedecker.livejournal.com]

I knew. :) It was just my weird brand of dry blank-faced humor. :)