9.30.2004
MoveOn attacking Pollsters. What's next?
The folks at MoveOn produced a full-page attack ad of Gallup's presidential poll results, and placed it in the NYT. MoveOn is quite disturbed that the poll's results have Bush hovering around a double-digit lead over his opponent. They point to "seven other polls" that put Bush just 3 points up. They claim Gallup refuses to fix a known error in its methodology concerning 'likely voters'. It becomes clear that the group simply cannot abide with such bad news coming from the most widely-known pollster in the pack, and accuse George Gallop of Christianity.
Gallop, who is a devout evangelical Christian, has been quoted as calling his polling "a kind of ministry." And a few months ago, he said "the most profound purpose of polls is to see how people are responding to God."
Mark Blumenthal, a Democrat and no stranger to the art and science of polling weighs in at Mystery Pollster. It is a good read, if you follow the numbers.
Call me a partisan, but I always thought that this sort of guilt-by-association smear of someone based on an exercise of a constitutional right – no matter how disagreeable – was something that Liberals fought against.
* * * *
I may not always agree with the decisions of the methodologists at Gallup, but I have no doubt they are professionals who exercise their best objective judgment in an atmosphere of intellectual freedom. We should respect that.
The folks at MoveOn respect one thing: their mutual, unrelenting hatred of George Bush. So much so, that they attacked a polling company! And how about the ad hoc sliming of scores of millions of folks who consider themselves evangelical Christians? Wonder how many more votes they'll dredge up for Kerry with the ad?
The folks at MoveOn produced a full-page attack ad of Gallup's presidential poll results, and placed it in the NYT. MoveOn is quite disturbed that the poll's results have Bush hovering around a double-digit lead over his opponent. They point to "seven other polls" that put Bush just 3 points up. They claim Gallup refuses to fix a known error in its methodology concerning 'likely voters'. It becomes clear that the group simply cannot abide with such bad news coming from the most widely-known pollster in the pack, and accuse George Gallop of Christianity.
Gallop, who is a devout evangelical Christian, has been quoted as calling his polling "a kind of ministry." And a few months ago, he said "the most profound purpose of polls is to see how people are responding to God."
Mark Blumenthal, a Democrat and no stranger to the art and science of polling weighs in at Mystery Pollster. It is a good read, if you follow the numbers.
Call me a partisan, but I always thought that this sort of guilt-by-association smear of someone based on an exercise of a constitutional right – no matter how disagreeable – was something that Liberals fought against.
* * * *
I may not always agree with the decisions of the methodologists at Gallup, but I have no doubt they are professionals who exercise their best objective judgment in an atmosphere of intellectual freedom. We should respect that.
The folks at MoveOn respect one thing: their mutual, unrelenting hatred of George Bush. So much so, that they attacked a polling company! And how about the ad hoc sliming of scores of millions of folks who consider themselves evangelical Christians? Wonder how many more votes they'll dredge up for Kerry with the ad?
// posted by HunterByrd @ 5:24 AM 
