Our broken national media
Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This item in a Boston Globe story tells us a lot about trusting the national media’s polls in Iowa…
In making [caucus turnout] projections, campaigns rely above all on their “hard count,” a tally of voters who have pledged to support them, and a list of previous caucusgoers made available for sale by the state party.
But no media organization is believed to have purchased such a list, so instead of knowing who has participated in past caucuses - considered the best indicator of turnout - pollsters are random-dialing households and asking voters whether they have voted before and how interested they are in the current race.
Iowa’s goofy process is drastically different than a traditional primary. You have to go to a neighbor’s house and openly declare your support for a candidate. So you’d think the media’s polling methods would be different. They’re not. Oops.
Thoughts on the race so far?
