Donald Burrill said on 12/5/02 2:46 PM: >I agree with Dennis on this point. > >OTOH, you may want to be aware that my attitude toward election polling >is negative to begin with. In general, I refuse to answer such polls, >either beforehand or after I have voted (what they call, I think, "exit >polls"). According to my political understanding, we are supposed to be >casting secret ballots, and on that basis I consider it nobody else's >business how I vote, or intend to vote, or did vote. (Private >conversations among friends and colleagues are of course a different >matter; but polls are NOT private conversations and rather seldom >involve friends and colleagues.)
While the idea that public polling can be used to mislead the public, I wonder what can be done... the only thing that occurs to me is advertising blitzes in the weeks before election day that urges people to not respond to polls, not respond to exit polls, and to 'keep your vote secret.' I doubt such advertising could affect the accuracy of polling, but, to the extent that it did affect the accuracy of polling it might put that business in a tailspin, however right or wrong that may be. We are focused on election polling and the negative effects it may have on public discourse, voting, etc. What about issue polling. Polling to see what issues the public feels most strongly about, biggest concerns, etc. Paul . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
