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Grex > Agora35 > #204: The will of the people has been denied, the winner loses | |
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| Author |
Message |
| 22 new of 96 responses total. |
bru
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response 75 of 96:
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Dec 18 15:42 UTC 2000 |
I thinks all exit polling should be banned. Thus we will not get to kow who
our president is until all votes are counted, and re-counted if they are
close.
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rcurl
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response 76 of 96:
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Dec 18 15:51 UTC 2000 |
Yay! Something we agree upon.
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aaron
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response 77 of 96:
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Dec 18 17:03 UTC 2000 |
Except my guess is that only one of you would be willing to repeal the
First Amendment to get to the desired end point.
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rcurl
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response 78 of 96:
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Dec 18 19:39 UTC 2000 |
Well, I don't want to *ban* exit polling. I just want the media to
restrain themselves and not do it, and/or convince voters that they
consider that it is worthwhile keeping their secret ballot secret.
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bru
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response 79 of 96:
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Dec 19 01:46 UTC 2000 |
I am not wlling to repeal the first ammendment. I don't see where anyone
should have the right to molest people exiting the polls.
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gelinas
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response 80 of 96:
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Dec 19 02:05 UTC 2000 |
Asking a question is "molesting"? Interesting.
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aaron
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response 81 of 96:
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Dec 19 04:28 UTC 2000 |
re #79: Think of my expression as being more figurative, Bruce. It seems
that whenever there is a discussion of free speech, you are on the
side of restricting people's right to express themselves. It may
just be my impression, granted. The net effect of chiseling away
the protections of the First Amendment until it is a hollow shell
is not much different from repealing it.
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johnnie
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response 82 of 96:
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Dec 19 04:42 UTC 2000 |
I'm all in favor of exercising my 1stAmendment rights by lying to
pollsters.
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scg
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response 83 of 96:
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Dec 19 08:12 UTC 2000 |
When I read a newspaper or news website, or watch news on TV, I'm looking for
information. If one news source won't give me the information I'm looking
for, I'll go to a different one. I think I can handle exit poll data, and
I find it interesting, if not useful, so I will seek out the news sources that
are reporting it. If you think you can't handle exit poll data, and think
you need it hidden from you, you are free to search out news sources that
don't report it.
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bru
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response 84 of 96:
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Dec 19 15:48 UTC 2000 |
I can handle it, I am not sure the news people can handle it. I would much
rather have accurate and truthful information a little later as opposed to
speculation or untruths earlier.
The press in this country has learned they can manipulate the information and
effect the outcome of certain activities, if they so desire. Some do so
desire.
In the course of the election, the media made not only one error but 3 in
florida. That rush to informe MAY have effected the outcome, and did effect
the post election legal actions.
If they had waited, not just for the vote to finish, but for all the votes
to be counted, then recounted because of the closeness of the race, we may
have had either Gore or Bush conceding without all the legal hassle.
Now, you could say that the good thing is that it made us aware of errors in
the voting process we were un-aware of before, and we can now fx those errors.
What makes me mad is that the media may have known about these errors before
but chose not to make an issue of it.
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polygon
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response 85 of 96:
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Dec 19 18:20 UTC 2000 |
I am EXTREMELY skeptical that any election-night "calls" of states last
November 7th changed anyone's vote, got anyone to vote who otherwise
might not have, or got anyone not to vote who otherwise would have.
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gelinas
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response 86 of 96:
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Dec 19 20:52 UTC 2000 |
Bruce, you are overlooking the nature of the beast. The media make their
money from advertising. Advertisers buy space in media that have an audience.
The media get audience by being *first* with the critical information. This
is why television can beat out newspapers every time: TV can get it in front
of you while it is happening. Newspapers can't. Even this morning's paper
is selling yesterday's news.
You want that changed? Find a way to pay the reporters, editors and analysts
that does not depend on them scooping their competitors.
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anderyn
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response 87 of 96:
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Dec 20 01:29 UTC 2000 |
I guess I simply don't see why an exit poll should exist. I thought that our
votes were supposed to be secret, therefore why should anyone ask me what I
did? (And I have heard of people leaving the polling place due to excessive
lines when they heard that one person or another "won" their state -- a woman
who works with me said her brother did... why bother if it's over? It does
happen that some people don't get out of work or can't get to the polling
place early, and if they have the perception that "it's all over" it
definitely affects their willingness to vote. Probably not huge numbers, but
there are always those who *might* have made a difference if the media hadn't
called it.)
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cmcgee
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response 88 of 96:
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Dec 20 01:41 UTC 2000 |
Exit polls exist because there are a sufficient number of people who don't
care about keeping their own vote secret. Our votes are supposed to be
secret; and much of the US election law has to do with how to keep them
secret. But nothing in those laws forbids us from revealing our own vote
voluntarily. (shades of the First Amendment).
Exit polls exist because the number of people willing to do that is large
enough that statistically significant projections can be made using those
voluntary disclosures. *Insert Response 86*
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rcurl
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response 89 of 96:
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Dec 20 03:45 UTC 2000 |
Maybe a natonal movement could be started among those that care about
this, to give the *opposite* response to one's actual vote. We newed a
catchy name for doing this....
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gelinas
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response 90 of 96:
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Dec 20 04:04 UTC 2000 |
Too bad we can't generate random answers for the pollsters. Opposite
responses can still be used to generate accurate results. We need to
answer "Daffy Duck" and "Donald Duck" to all such questions. :)
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rcurl
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response 91 of 96:
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Dec 20 05:56 UTC 2000 |
But there will be a mix of true and opposite answers. A campaign like
this would only catch on with a fraction of the electorate - those
that dislike the consequences of exit polling.
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gelinas
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response 92 of 96:
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Dec 20 05:58 UTC 2000 |
That would work. The fictional characters would be discarded before the
tabulation, so they would work ONLY if _everyone_ cooperated.
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keesan
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response 93 of 96:
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Dec 20 16:24 UTC 2000 |
Jim was thinking of telling the pollsters that he voted opposite of the way
he did so more people would come out and vote for his candidate since there
vote would count. But nobody asked him.
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polygon
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response 94 of 96:
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Dec 20 21:54 UTC 2000 |
There's some speculation that exit polling was less accurate this year
than ever because of the increasing prevalance of absentee voting.
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polygon
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response 95 of 96:
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Dec 20 21:57 UTC 2000 |
Re 87. If people are so willing to leave voting lines because "someone
said" the election was over, then that makes them vulnerable to all kinds
of partisan rumormongering.
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other
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response 96 of 96:
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Dec 22 06:03 UTC 2000 |
It is an example of an unfortunately typical shortsightedness to look at
exit polls and their effects and advocate their ban as a solution, when
the real solution is to mount a voter education campaign encouraging
people to do their civic duty and vote their consciences without regard
to exit polls.
It is a basic mark of such shortsightedness to promote legislation in
place of education.
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