MSNBC Poll Shows Obama "Won" the Debate ... Now, Hold on Just a Minute!

There are people who make their decisions by holding their finger up in the wind to see which way the poll blows. But polls are notoriously skewed. Deaf Republicans has a very interesting bit of information that should make you take a step back and (if you're not doing this already) and begin looking at poll results with a decidedly jaundiced eye.

Online poll voting, a reliable way of gauging post-presidential debate results? According to MSNBC the answer is a big "No."

In contrast, msnbc.com's online surveys — or Live Votes — may reflect the views of more individuals, but they are not necessarily representative of the general population. And they may be even less representative of those people who are registered to vote and who do in fact vote.

To begin with, the people who respond to online surveys choose to do so — they are not randomly selected and asked to participate, but instead make the choice to read a story about a certain topic and then vote on a related question.

They may be highly motivated supporters of a particular candidate who are determined to show their support for him or her in any way they can.

And while Live Votes are designed to allow only one vote per user, someone who wants to vote more than once can use another computer or another Internet account.

Live Votes are not intended to be a scientific sample of opinion. Instead, they are part of the same dialogue that takes place in our online chat sessions: a way to share your views on the news with your fellow users and with msnbc.com writers and editors.

There's one thing that the article forgot to mention that affects the number of people who participate in online poll votes and I'll bring that up later.

Read more at Deaf Republicans. Be sure to read through the "Updates" at the bottom!

Comments

[Scottiebill]

Remember that this poll is from MSNBC (Mark Levin call it MSLSD), TV's version of the New York Slimes. (I suppose you could include CNN, the Clinton News Network, in there, too.) Therefore, no rational person should put any credence to it at all, at all.

[Scottiebill]

Remember that this poll is from MSNBC (Mark Levin call it MSLSD), TV's version of the New York Slimes. (I suppose you could include CNN, the Clinton News Network, in there, too.) Therefore, no rational person should put any credence to it at all, at all.

[Tracy]

The polls were right when your incumbent "won" the election. Now they're fingers in the wind?