Reply #15: Discrediting exit polls and scaring media from calling states "too early" [View All]

[WhoWantsToBeOccupied]

Since at least 2000, Reps have been bad-mouthing exit polls in the media. They have partially succeeded because the media repeatedly apologizes for exit polls' "inaccuracy." Until about 2000, exit polls were considered extremely reliable (even Fox analyst Dick Morris swears by exit polls to this day) because they were based on people who had just cast votes. They are considered reliable enough to detect fraud in other countries.

After the media "blew" its call on Florida in 2000 by "prematurely" and "inaccurately" awarding the state to Gore, the entire media committed to wait much longer and be much more cautious in 2004. If they had called Florida early on Nov 2, 2004, they would have declared Kerry the winner. Instead, they waited, ignored the clear exit poll data, and "avoided" making the "wrong" call. Instead, they were able to make the "right" call after receiving "solid" numbers. (They even somehow managed to muddle together official vote tallies with exit poll data to cover up how large the discrepancy was between official vote tallies and exit poll numbers. Had no one received the early exit poll data, we likely would not be discussing the possibility of election fraud right now.)

In 2004, the Reps attempted to make it harder for exit pollers to conduct exit polls. They also helped nudge the media to consolidate their exit polling so they would need to discredit just one set of "faulty" numbers. (After making exit polling somewhat harder to carry out in certain places, the Reps are now using this self-created reality to "explain" polls' "failure.")

Today, we learned that the GOP is trying to stop the media from carrying out any exit polls at all in the future. It's easier to steal elections when no one's keeping you honest.

If someone in the GOP is rigging elections and deciding on Election Day how many votes they need to steal, they would want to loosen the media up by first discrediting exit polling and slowing down the media from calling states on Election Day until they had added in their fraudulent votes. After several election cycles, the fraudulent votes would have repeatedly "discredited" the exit polls sufficiently that they could then push the media to eliminate all exit polling. They could blame it on, as they have tried to, a left-wing conspiracy to leak pro-Democratic poll numbers that supposedly (but completely falsely, according to historical data) encourage Dems to turn up in larger numbers and discourage Reps from going to the polls. (This is a real tinfoil hat conspiracy theory!)

You must hand it to whoever's driving the GOP "Get Out The (Fake) Vote" campaign. They've got a brilliant long-term plan, these Machiavellian fucks.