"I Got Exit Polled - What Was I Asked?"

babylonsister

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Tue Nov-02-10 01:27 PM
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"I Got Exit Polled - What Was I Asked?"

I Got Exit Polled - What Was I Asked?

by Steven D
Tue Nov 2nd, 2010 at 10:03:08 AM EST

I voted many times but this was the first time I've ever seen an exit poll outside my polling place. It was also the first time I was chosen to participate in an exit poll. Apparently AP, ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN and one other so-called news organization (Fox) have joined their collective forces to pay for the poll I took and share the data. Edison Research was the name of the polling company.

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Finally, let me address three other questions the poll asked me about which I believe supports my hypothesis regarding why this exit poll was so limited in the questions it asked. The first one was a question that asked how concerned I was about the direction of the country (I chose extremely concerned, by the way). A fairly standard question, I know, but one whose answer can easily be misinterpreted in the context of a midterm election results if that is the only question you're going to ask.

Another question asked me to choose between whether I thought government should be doing more to help people or if I thought government was doing too much and more should be left to individuals and private enterprise (paraphrasing here but that was the gist of it). Again this is a loaded question. We already know how its going to be answered. Democratic voters are more likely to choose more government help and Republican voters are more likely to go with less government? So why bother to ask it? Because it fits the preordained media narrative, that's why.

If there are no followup questions to help the media understand the various reasons different groups of people might have for answering that question as they did, the pundits are essentially provided free rein to interpret the results however the wish, and draw conclusions that might very well not be supported by even a slightly a more in depth poll. It allows both sides to invent their own conclusions.

The final question I answered was clearly intended to shape the narrative about the debate tonight as the election results come in. What was that question? It was one that asked me how strongly I approved or disapproved of "the Tea Party."

I was not questioned regarding how strongly I approved or disapproved of the Democratic Party or the Republican Party or even Congress as a whole. Instead I was asked to give an approval rating for this amorphous, astro-turf created and financed "grass roots movement" which is not even a registered political party in any state to my knowledge. One would think that, at the least, I would have been asked to rate my approval of the two major parties and not just President Obama and the "Tea Party" but I wasn't.

Why was this question asked and not those others? Well, I suggest you simply have to read between the lines. Two questions on a short survey asked me to rate my approval of the President and the Tea Party. I don't think I need to work very hard to connect those dots, nor do you.

The major media outlets who commissioned this exit poll obviously want to limit their discussion of the election results to the rise of the angry anti-government Tea Party movement vs. the failure of the President and "Big Guvmint" to solve our problems. They want to make that oversimplified but easy to digest story the main focus of their election coverage tonight, in my opinion, and to hell with any little details that might muddy the picture they have already neatly framed and are ready to display to the great unwashed American Public.

more...

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2010/11/2/1038/01628