The Big On-Line Polls

[ThomWV]

There isn't a person who participates in an on-line poll that doesn't ask themselves, just as they click the vote box, if their view on the matter at hand isn't in sync with the better informed segment of the respondents. We all do it. Moo.

Some of the heavy hitters of the on-line polling game - CNN, MSNBC, AOL, and others - attract tens of thousands of votes.

What seems so surprising to me is that other than Lou Dobbs it seems that rarely do you actually see the results of these polls televised. Certainly there is no statistical validity to the polls, but none the less, they do seem to model the mood of the moment.

For instance look at the current MSNBC Poll concerning Bush's impeachment. With something over 90,000 responses having been recorded there is an overwhelming, almost staggering, majority who support impeachment of the President for myriad and cumulative offenses against our Constitutional Democracy, Rights, and personal freedoms you still don't see it cited on the tube. Are the news programs afraid of being though frivolous? That's amusing.

So, the question seems to be, if they aren't using the polls for broadcast able information they why do they conduct them at all? Are they simply flypaper for cyberspace cattle?

[kaygore]

1. The questions was rhetorical, right? flypaper for cyberspace cattle

[acmavm]

2. Wondered that a time or two myself. n/t

[Dawgs]

3. They do it to bring visitors to their site.

How many people from DU visit MSNBC when a new political poll comes out?

[ThomWV]

5. Its Like A Race For Free Cash

Like throwing dollars out the window of a car down town.

So, do on-line polls sway opnions?

In answering one of lifes defining questions and then finding one self on the lonely side of the fence, so to speak, does it cause you to rethink your position? I do sometimes.

Moooooooooo

[Kansas Wyatt]

4. You'll see them broadcast the polls...

Just as soon as Shrub starts scoring a lot better in them. Then they will parrot them over and over again, just to show America how much of a mandate he has.

[carolinalady]

6. I think for two reasons-

1. To attract visitors to their website and
2. To get a feel for what types of viewers they get. I think those polls have lately been helpful, particularly msnbc, in giving them more of a spine when questioning the actions of the current misadministration.

[central scrutinizer]

7. They should NOT broadcast the results

Any poll with a self-selected sample that is subject to blatant ballot-stuffing is completely worthless. It is fun to vote and watch the totals, but if a self-described "news" source then airs the results, it lends a cachet of authority to the results. Those who are not savvy about sampling methodology will give the poll more credence that it deserves. Not that these cable channels have very high journalistic standards in any case, but to broadcast these results as "news" is irresponsible.

[acmejack]

9. A goodly portion of what they broadcast is not "news"!

Witness some of the topics they choose to cover, fluff. But your point is well taken, not even close to a valid poll. They do get the benefit of the website traffic which drives their ad revenues.

[sojourner]

8. as already mentioned, to get a feel for who we are/what our mood is

which will help them figure out what/how to present---

and another evil thought occurs to me: the gov't wants this info so that they have a sense of how various memes and talking points are doing -- tells 'em when to duck and when to "stand firm"...the helpful media only too happy to be there for them, while seemingly we get a chance to feel as though someone gives a sh* what we think.

[AndyTiedye]

10. They Use Them To Determine How Well the Propaganda is Working

[Uncle Joe]

11. I believe they only televise these poll results it they match

their corpwhorate master's views or goals. If the poll is massively one sided against them, they do not televise because this would be admitting to the American People that the network has been on the wrong side of history, however they do adjust their rhetoric to compensate and look more moderate than they are without admitting fault such as Tucker Carlson in this thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5668651

[bigmonkey]

12. Perhaps there's a history to this, too.

Online editors may have made the mistake of using poll results as a very vague guideline to public mood some years ago, in ignorance perhaps, and now regret that and avoid it like the plague, at least as far as data influencing their own decisions goes. There is still, though, a push-poll aspect to the questions used - editors may be tailoring the polls in particular ways to influence public opinion through influencing the polled participants.

[kliljedahl]

13. Just one question

There's always that segment that votes "no opinion". Who are they & why do they bother?



Keith’s Barbeque Central

[Snotcicles]

14. Lets do a test

the next poll lets vote for there boy, get those numbers way up there and see if they print or show that.