DU paying the price for past Gallup bashing

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

All these posts about tightening in second-tier tracking polls are funny. So what? Obama is kicking ass in the better known, longer term trackers.

DU is paying the price for months of constant dismissal of the Gallup daily tracking poll. It was never "fixed" or "meaningless." All tracking polls have their virtues and limitations. Gallup is what it is.

The Gallup Daily is probably more reliable than some of these less known tracking polls and Barack Obama really is enjoying his largest national lead ever, folks. (A result confirmed by equally despised 'obviously fake' Rasmussen daily.)

[Bicoastal]

1. Let's face it, folks...

...we'll hate on any polll that doesn't put Obama a million points ahead.

[ronnykmarshall]

2. Y ou mean he's not?

FREEPER!!!!!!!

:silly:

[redqueen]

3. It's a national poll, so it doesn't say much about the outcome of the election.

I thought that's what people were referring to when they called it 'meaningless'. I know that's how I think of it.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

6. That argument sounds sensible in theroy, but is not correct in practice

For the argument to have meaning we should have at least one example in the last century when the popular vote did not match the electoral college winer.

(Gore won Florida. There was no mis-match in 2000)

National polling is inferior to 50 identical state polls conducted on the same evening. But no polling organization has ever done that. Too expensive.

Compared to REAL state polls, as opposed to hypothetical state polls, national poling is more timely and less twitchy. The accumulation of state polls runs a week behind and the individual polls are often crap.

All national polls show Obama ahead in mid to high single digits.

There were state polls of Minnesota in the last week showing a tie, and showing Obama up by 18. At least one of those polls is worthless. Which one? And averaging garbage doesn't yield truth.

If you were betting money on a presidential election and could only see public national polling or public state polling the national polling is actually a better predictor of how the states will go.

[WeDidIt]

4. The numbers are never as important as the trend lines

That's simply the fact about all polls.

[Occam Bandage]

5. Gallup and Ras are obviously fixed. Obama must be 20 ahead. Or if that isn't the case,

then they're obviously fixed and only showing us this to lull us into a false sense of security to cover up McCain's gains, so they can unleash them when it really matters.

Either way, those are much more exciting possibilities than the boring and sometimes threatening nature of reality.

[bemildred]

7. It's not costing me a thing, polls are still crap. Get over it. nt

[Kokonoe]

8. I see your poll as Obama ahead 1!%, above half the decideds.

When WE KNOW ITS 60 40. Its fixed.

We just cannot comprehend how much.

[WI_DEM]

9. I think it's only that silly Hotline poll that has it close.