MY SAY: FAKE POLLS
Fake polls have infected politics by disheartening American voters with approval ratings and predictions which are falsely researched and bruited, and out of sync with the American people. In 1948 the Chicago Daily Tribune went to press and public with the now famous headline: “Dewey Defeats Truman.”
Harry Truman, who trounced Thomas Dewey held up the Nov. 3, 1948 edition of the Chicago Tribune with that headline as he celebrated victory over the man who was predicted to win by most national polls.
Ronald Reagan averaged a 53% job approval rating during his presidency, slightly below average for all U.S. presidents for which Gallup has recorded job approval ratings.
After the Democratic National Convention in July, the Mondale-Ferraro ticket actually bested the Reagan-Bush ticket in a nationwide Gallup Poll, 48 percent to 46 percent.
Questions in polls remind one of the old saw about a trial when the prosecutor asks: “When did you stop beating your wife?”
I have been polled twice and it goes something like this exaggerated version:
“Are you a registered Republican voter? Just answer yes or no”
” If it were disclosed that the Republican candidate was guilty of pillage and plunder and rape would you vote for him?”
Of course, the answer is no, and the poll then discloses that only 3% of registered Republicans will vote for the party’s incumbent. rsk
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