I just saw a poll showing the approval ratings of both candidates

[iceman_419]

and they had them dies at around 53% a piece. Now I'm still young and have not worked as a pollster before, but isn't it odd that only a few days before an election the approval ratings for both candidates are tied. It was a CNN poll I might add, but still. This poll by itself shows me how stupid all the other polls are and how they are being messed with. How can we be informed when our own media has no idea what's doing?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. Don't pay attention to polls.

Just look at how all-over-the-place they've been. Candidates have been making up 5-7 points worth of ground mysteriously overnight on a regular basis! It's ridiculous. Last year, Gallup gave Bush a 10 point lead heading into the election, and that CLEARLY did not happen, as he lost the popular vote.

[TexasSissy]

2. I think you mean "favorability" rating? That's different from an approval

rating. Kerry can't have a national approval rating, since he doesn't hold a national office. Only Bush can. I keep up with Bush's "job approval" rating.

They both can have favorability ratings, but that has nothing to do with job performance. Someone can like Bush's personality, for example, but be a Kerry supporter or think that Bush is a terrible leader. Favorability ratings don't mean much, except possibly when comparing candidates on the same side (like the 9 Dem. candidates - you want to pick a likeable candidate, all other things being equal).

Bush's AVERAGE job approval rating has been hovering around 50% here lately, which is very distressing to me. Before this week, it had been below 50% for most of the year. Job approval ratings OFTEN translate into share of the vote an incumbent gets.

[iceman_419]

3. You are right

it was "favorability rating." But it is still wierd how both candidates are tied, even with a simple poll like that. Does anyone know what Bush's approval rating is now? I know it fluctuates from poll to poll but does anyeone have an estimate?

[peacetalksforall]

4. The Corporate Propaganda Networks are all aligned with magazines

and/or the cable/film industries. And some align themselves with polling companies or condut their own. You can safely ignore any of their polls. They are cooperating in making it look as though the race is tied for traditional and underhanded reasons - they (networks working for Republicans) don't want anyone to stay home because they think Kerry is going to, but more importantly, they want to plant in everyones minds the concept and belief that the race is tied going in so that they calculate where and how many votes that can steal and not be noticed - since we now know they do steal votes and intimidate and commit every other kind of roadblock imaginable. Ties help their cause.