polling

The debate is over and who won? Of course it all depends on who you ask and that's the rub. There never will be a winner or a loser in these contests. That's probably one of the reasons why I hate the darn things!

But on to the polls and a thought that I have had for quite awhile now...since I won't answer the phone for a pollster and since I know a lot of others that feel the same way, we are never going to be included in those polls. That's millions of people. I read the other day where a reporter attempted to conduct his own poll of a thousand voters and after two days of calling he had been able to get the opinions of a little over a hundred people.

People who answer their phones for pollsters (and then answer the questions) are a subset within the general population yet that is where the statistics are coming from. That is a small subset. I would guess that these are lonely people that are thrilled when they hear the phone ringing. Yet we believe the figures when they come out in the paper or we see them online.

I've always wondered why they don't use internet polling? You have no idea who you have contacted when you use the phone and so it is with the internet. You have no idea as to the truthfulness of their answers when you use the phone and so it is with the internet. All things being equal, why not use the internet?

Someone has decided to do just that! And of course it's Google; in a trial run.


A CNN poll of debate-watchers found Mr. Romney very clearly ahead, with 67 percent of registered voters saying he won the debate, against just 25 percent for President Obama.

A CBS News poll of undecided voters who watched the debate found 46 percent siding with Mr. Romney, 22 percent for Mr. Obama and 32 percent saying it was a tie.

Google, which is experimenting with online surveys, found 38.9 percent of respondents saying they thought Mr. Obama performed better in a poll it conducted during the debate, against 35.5 percent for Mr. Romney and 25.6 percent who said it was a draw. But a second poll they conducted after the debate found 47.8 percent of respondents giving Mr. Romney the advantage, against 25.4 percent for Mr. Obama.

Do those figures tell us anything? I'm not sure yet, though I'm naturally inclined to believe the Google figures. I think Google is on to something here and I don't doubt that other pollsters will be following their lead. Perhaps then I will have my voice heard in a poll.

Now a word about the debate; from all I've read, Mr. Romney was all bluster and no facts. That is what his base loves! He talks about the 12 million new jobs he will create and yet he won't describe even one of those new jobs for us. Me, I'll take 'facts' every time.