Republicans are complaining that the mainstream media is using skewed polls that show that Obama is winning. Their argument? That these polls are counting more Democrats than Republicans.
This may be the ultimate in false equivalences. The reasons why polls include more Democrats than Republicans is because there are more Democrats than Republicans. Right now, 35% of Americans identify as Democrats, and 28% as Republicans, with the remaining 33% Independents. So it only stands to reason that if you do a proper poll you will find that there are more Democrats.
But reason apparently has nothing to do with it. Conservatives are even calling it a conspiracy:
They’re trying to wrap this up before the debates even start. I think they’re trying to get this election finished and in the can by suppressing your vote and depressing you so that you just don’t think there’s any reason to vote, that it’s hopeless.
Either that, or Republicans think that only they have the right to vote.
But there are some conservatives who don’t buy into this conspiracy. Erick Erickson, the editor of the RedState blog wrote this week:
I’ve been in politics long enough to know that the louder one side gets complaining about the polls, the more likely it is that this is the side that, in reality, actually is losing.
Amen.
UPDATE: Nate Silver explains why the Republican complaints are nonsense.
3 Comments
Here’s an example of a black person who doesn’t drink and doesn’t have a drivers license and therefore can’t vote. Unfortunately there’s a stereotype that all poor people have a photo ID because they drink.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/02/pennsylvania-voter-id-law-viviette-applewhite_n_1472192.html
We can be sure that more people will lose the ability to vote, than will be prevented from voting fraudulently.
Oh, who can blame the Rs? On top of their basic dislike for objective fact, they have become accustomed to the new journalistic version of a fairness doctrine, where equal weight is given to any dissent from the right. Think of climate change, where the 5% of scientists who assert it is not happening are given equal — if not more — voice in our media to the 95% who have proven that it is. Of course they’re stunned that their minority in the populace is being reflected in the polls!