frazzledgear
Senior Member
- Mar 17, 2008
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- #41
It was NOT a push poll. Even the article you linked said near the bottom that this was NOT a push poll! Clearly you have no idea what one is. The Truth About Push Polls, Just What Is A Push Poll? - CBS News
A push poll is not even a real poll. Push polls are designed to elicit a specifically desired answer. The only possible answers in a push poll are "yes and no" or "more likely and less likely". The question is designed to "push" them into giving the desired answer. For example, "If you knew that Obama said he will force all unmarried pregnant teenage girls to get abortions against their will, would you be more likely to vote for him or less likely to vote for him?" The person hearing this question may know for a fact that Obama never said any such thing -but even in that situation, because it is being posed as a hypothetical question only, it will elicit the desired response of "less likely" more often than it won't. Some people will be left wondering if that is actually information they hadn't known before, some people will end up believing he did say that and for some, it will subconsciously remain as a negative in their mind as a result -all of which may end up influencing how they end up voting. Which was the whole point of the push poll in the first place. (No, this was not a real push poll question and was just an extreme example.) This is why you will never read or hear about the statistical analysis of a push poll - because they aren't real polls and no data is even collected during one.
But a poll can't elicit or pressure someone to give a specific answer with a multiple choice question and questions that have the same possible five answers for each question. So if a person was asked which candidate had a pregnant teenage daughter and given the possible choices of answering "McCain, Palin, Obama, Biden, None of them" -they either knew it was Palin or they didn't. When asked which candidate won his first election by getting the other opponents kicked off the ballot -they either knew it was Obama or they didn't. No desired answer was being pushed with these questions any more than a multiple choice test in school was actually a push poll in disguise. This was basically a multiple choice test -and Obama voters flunked it when it came to knowing negative information about Obama/Biden -the people they voted for. While they were much better informed when it came to knowing negative information about McCain/Palin.
The link you gave is the personal opinion of an editorial writer who just didn't like what this poll showed. He thinks that negative information about Obama that only came out three months before the election wasn't enough time for Obama voters to have even heard about it and negative information that came out about Obama 10 months earlier was too long ago for Obama voters to remember it. He argued that the question "Which candidate said his energy policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry" could actually correctly be answered McCain -on the grounds that McCain once supported a cap-and-trade system! The problem is, McCain didn't actually SAY his energy policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry. And Obama DID. And the question specifically asked which candidate SAID it.
The article is a real pack of nitpicking bs in my book. You either know Obama actually SAID this -or you don't. But don't pretend that Obama voters are SO wired into McCain's OLD policy positions that he no longer even held during this campaign -that Obama voters would just NATURALLY jump from hearing "who said their energy policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry" to immediately thinking "cap-and-trade system", and that would cause them to zero in on McCain's old past policy position on cap-and-trade, then assume a cap-and-trade system really would likely bankrupt the coal industry -and therefore quite plausible and technically correct if they answered McCain instead of the guy who actually SAID it? But couldn't possibly know which party actually controlled both houses of Congress! Give me a break.
This guy thinks that because a Pew poll showed that 53% of all people got it RIGHT about who controlled Congress back in May, that is as equally disturbing as the fact that 57% of Obama voters got it WRONG? I think it is disturbing that more people aren't aware of something like which party controls Congress. But the majority of people in general got it RIGHT. The majority of Obama voters got it WRONG. They had a 50-50 shot at just guessing correctly and got it wrong. Out of line with the knowledge of people in general, not consistent with them.
The criticisms of this poll have come from some liberal bloggers and liberal media types -all Obama supporters. (Not surprising.) But NOT from other fellow professional pollsters, huh? The fact Zogby was hired to design and carry out this poll by a person who intends to write a book about some aspect of this campaign -is IRRELEVANT. He's intends to write a book critical about the role played by the media in aiding Obama's campaign. Of course the liberal media types are going to get their panties in a twist over a poll that supports the author's contention that the media was biased in how they covered the candidates, huh? Professional pollsters get hired ALL THE TIME to design and carry out private polls -by companies, industries, think tanks, economists, authors, etc. In fact, its how professional pollsters make a living most of the time since they still have to eat even when there are no election campaigns taking place. Zogby didn't "destroy" his reputation -no matter how much whining liberal bloggers and media types wail about this poll. These questions were straight up questions and not trick questions.
In spite of the whining and wailing by those who didn't like the results of this poll - Zogby stands by this poll AND the results -is even quoted doing so in your linked article written by someone who isn't a professional pollster. He is just one of the liberal media types the author will no doubt be highly critical of in his book -so naturally he feels the need to defend himself by nitpicking a poll that has results that should appall him. And anyone else in the media who acted like Obama's lapdog during the campaign. Just because people don't like what it implies about Obama voters or the media - is not a legitimate basis for insisting the poll isn't a valid one or that is somehow magically turns it into a push-poll.
Get over it -Obama voters really weren't the sharpest knives in the drawer when it came to their own candidate after all, huh?
ok chickenhawk if you say so...
