Tag Archives: polling

Blog

Being Purveyors Of Honest Information Isn’t Taking Sides, It’s Journalism

Leave a comment

Some of us, have been covering politics for years. I got started with George McGovern, and I’ve never been so flummoxed by the polls. Never. It just feels as though there’s a blue wave coming that is not reflected by the polling.

There are exceptions, like a poll from Howard University, that shows young black people are supporting Harris by overwhelming numbers. According to the poll, “The results show that 84% of likely Black voters plan to support Harris in November, while 8% back Trump, and another 8% are undecided” in battleground states. Most major polls though, continue to show the race neck and neck, despite what looks like and feels like a groundswell for Harris. A headline in the Washington Examiner claims “Harris Slipping With Young Black Men In Battleground States.”

There is a rumbling, and that’s all it is, a rumbling, that big money interests that support Trump, are pumping out phony polling information. It feels to me, and that’s all it is, just a feeling, that this could very well be happening. In my neighborhood, there is an absence of lawn signs, flags and banners, where lawn signs were planted and banners were flying for Trump in 2016. It feels – and again, it’s only a feeling – like his support has dropped.

I’m convinced. and it has been reported out, that Putin’s people are working behind the scenes to support Trump. They did in 2016, and they’re doing it again. If there are phony polls out there, some could be coming from Russia. This should be more of an issue for the mainstream? Are they afraid of the truth, because it will give the appearance of taking sides?

Blog, Media, Politics

Context Matters

Leave a comment

I’m no numbers-cruncher, but it irritates me that so many of the polls being reported out feature only the “battleground states,” and nothing about the bigger picture. If Harris annihilates Trump nationwide, won’t that offset the battleground states? Of course a “neck and neck” race in the battleground states is more interesting. And frightening.

I recall a time when Uncle Walter, tried to calm everybody down, rather than creating a state of high anxiety to drive the daily numbers. Last I heard from Nate Silver, Harris was beating Trump nationally in the projected popular vote, if the vote were taken at that very moment in time. Doesn’t that matter? Won’t that swing the electoral college for Harris? I suppose not, since the polls are just a “snapshot” of what’s happening at any given moment. As they keep reminding us, ad nauseam. Sorry, I’m old and grumpy. What was it we used to say? About never letting the facts get in the way of a…….something or another.

What do I know? I’m just a country kid from Frostbite Falls, MN, who once got into an argument about the future of Journalism with Lou Grant. I argued that it was circular, that we’d eventually circle back to the standards of “old school” Journalism. He argued that it would not. That there would be no circling back to what we once were. I hope he was wrong but think maybe he was right. Somebody should do a poll on it.