The population of the US is just over 300,000,000.
He had more votes than Kerry I thought?
We can’t be sure of that, especially in Ohio, the Buckeye State. All exit polls in Ohio had Kerry ahead by 5 points. What happened? Exit polls don’t make mistakes. There were many irregularities reported in Ohio (as well as other key states) of voter intimidation, voided ballots in poor and minority precincts, not to mention the uncounted ballots. Plus, last year, the CEO of DIEBOLD, the company that makes the electronic voting machines (the ones that leave no paper trail!) promised the republicans that he would deliver Ohio to Bush. Don’t you like a guy who keeps his promises?
That is incorrect, the exit polls have been wrong in the last 3 elections. I have been hearing that reported for two days by several of the major news organizations as well as various talk radio shows. They have reported that this time the exit polls were weighted 60-40 women because most of the people conducting the exit poll were women. Also, it was not scientific because no attempt was made to get a representative sample. Sounds like some errors were made to me.
Were is the evidence of these reported irregularities? Someone can report anything but that does not make it true. If there were problems, the news media would have reported nothing else for the past 2 days and Kerry would not have conceded.
Rumors and falsehoods like this have been circulating since 2000. Do you not think that the democrats and republicans would have had people examine the machines to see if they could be tampered with in any way? Do you really believe things like this or do you just say them to get someone to react? Better watch out for the black helicopters. (no offense intended, just having a little fun with you)
I will check out the link though to see what it says.
I agree with Rhuiden on the exit polls. What people say when interviewed is not always true.
For example, most pre-election polls here are done via telephone. However, one of the groups who do polling do it via asking people face-to-face who they’ll vote for. This poll always predicts a Labor win. It seems, therefore, that some people vote Liberal but never admit it (even to a stranger). These exit polls would have a similar problem.
Another thing I have heard reported about the exit polls was that they were conducted primarily in urban areas. Those are not very representative of the country as a whole. This brings the question…were these truly errors or were the polls purposely conducted in a manner to get a “desired” result?
The pollsters are professionals and are paid large sums of money to conduct their polls. I find it very hard to believe that they suddenly forgot how to do their job properly. The only possible answer then is that the exit polls were planned and conducted in such a was as to get the “desired” result. I believe they were trying to suppress the republican vote in much the same way as what happened in the Florida panhandle in 2000.
Coming from a superb investigative journalist like Greg Palast, yes I do. Healthy scepticism keeps a democracy strong.
By the way, don’t you think electronic voting machines that leave no paper audit trail is odd? These machines leave no permanent record. How do you verify if a vote was counted or not?
[Rhuiden, I have a feeling William’s patience with us is running thin. ]
Now, as for the Ohio exit polls getting it wrong, I find that hard to believe. The people who conduct these polls are exceptional in their field; they are not first-timers; they are professionals; and, they asked the same question they asked in Florida in 2000: Who did you vote for? Remember the Florida count in 2000 when the exit polls showed that Gore won? When they finally got around to counting ALL the votes, Gore did win.
I am not saying this because I did not like the outcome of the election. True, it is no secret that I believe Bush to be a horrible president who simply got away with bloody murder (literally), by avoiding serious issues like the war, the economy and the environment, and usurping them with petty issues like god, gays and guns, etc. I thought Americans (and this fragile world) deserved much better than Bush or Kerry. No, I am saying this because it’s strange that the pollsters tally did not match the total votes counted. And I simply ask, why not? Were not all the votes counted?
What do you base this on? I have heard that 5 or 6 different news organizations did recounts after everything was done and Bush won each time. Had Bush not won, it would have been on the front page of every newspaper and on every news show in the world. I believe it is time for people to let this go.
I think the answer is obvious. Pollsters do not ask every single person who they voted for. As I said in a previous post, it does not appear that they were trying to get a representative sample. First, the exit polls were concentrated in urban areas. Second, the exit polls were weighted 60 % women and 40 % men. Next, not everyone who is asked will respond to the exit pollsters and some who do will lie to the pollster. Combine these with the fact that on Monday (in the final pre-election polls) almost every major poll showed Bush winning 51% to 48% and the exit polls do not look very reliable.
Bush won with an overwelming mandate, the only question now is whether or not the Republican majority in the House and Senate will grow backbones and begin to implement the conservative agenda.
It WAS frontpage news all over the world. The BBC even did a documentary on it. It’s just that your mainstream media did not have the backbone to cover it. Check out www.gregpalast.com for the links.
Bush won with an overwhelming mandate,
A 51 - 48 split of votes ‘counted’ is not exactly an ‘overwhelming’ majority. Remember, he has the support of less than 20% of the US population (i.e., 59m / 300m = < 20%).
the only question now is whether or not the Republican majority in the House and Senate will grow backbones and begin to implement the conservative agenda.
Be careful what you wish for…you just might get it.
Exit polls would lose their reliability in such tight elections as these, it’s harder to get right even when you use all the methods possible. Take the numerous polls (telephone polls, more accurate than exit polls) who predicted bush and kerry would tie.
the only question now is whether or not the Republican majority in the House and Senate will grow backbones and begin to implement the conservative agenda.
All these senseless deaths because some one with an IQ of a doormat had this wild hunch that Saddam was dangerous to the US. And the American electorate chose him for 4 more years --amazing!
Lol. The funny thing about the ignorant comment is Bush’s SAT’s were higher than Kerry’s.
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. Have a good time in Canada