Thursday, July 3, 2008

Polls

We all know that the traditional media, mainly newspapers and the three big TV stations (ABC, CBS, NBC) have been diminishing in their influence on the typical American. With the rise of cable news shows which run 24 hours, the internet and blogging, these former powerhouses which monopolized (that is the correct word, right? No competition) the industry are now withering away because of the intense competition. Since they can't compete, what do they resort to? Polls. DAy after day, it's poll after poll. These polls are absolutely worthless. All they serve to do is to CREATE news, not REPORT news. Big difference. When you can't win by honesty, win by subterfuge and deception.
Consider this recent poll that came out from the AP:

Poll: Obama beats McCain as barbecue guest
WASHINGTON (AP) — People would rather barbecue burgers with Barack Obama than with John McCain.
While many are still deciding who should be president, by 52 percent to 45 percent they would prefer having Obama than McCain to their summer cookout, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Wednesday.
Men are about evenly divided between the two while women prefer Obama by 11 percentage points. Whites prefer McCain, minorities Obama. And Obama is a more popular guest with younger voters while McCain does best with the oldest.
Having Obama to a barbecue would be like a relaxed family gathering, while inviting McCain "would be more like a retirement party than something fun," said Wesley Welbourne, 38, a systems engineer from Washington, D.C.
Party label means a lot, with three-quarters of Democrats picking the Democrat Obama and the same number of Republicans picking McCain, a Republican. Independents are about evenly split.
"John and I would probably have a lot to talk about," said Republican Michael Mullen, 53, of Merrimac, Mass., like McCain a Navy veteran.
One in six people saying they'd vote for McCain prefer Obama as their barbecue guest; just one in 20 Obama backers would invite McCain.
The AP-Yahoo News survey of 1,759 adults was conducted online by Knowledge Networks from June 13-23 and had an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. The margin of sampling error for subgroups was larger.
On the Net:
Polling site:
http://news.yahoo.com/polls

Come on! Rather than try to report on the issues which should help people decide whom to vote for, the media comes out with ridiculous polls which have no bearing whatsoever on the election. Then again, considering how inept and how uninformed most Americans are with regards to the government and Constitution of this country, maybe we shouldn't be surprised. Other polls try to decide who is more qualified based on the likability of the presidential nominees' spouses!
Everything now is a popularity contest and it has filtered into everything. What's a jury? A group of 12 who decide who has the better lawyer! Popularity--it's running and ruining everything. Maybe we should call the election today based on one random poll.

If I may suggest another poll for the election: Which candidate would you prefer to judge Miss America. And then call the election on that!

The overall point is that the traditional media is upset (vehemently upset) that they are no longer the ones to name the heir apparent to the throne of the presidency. Their influence has waned considerably. Earlier this week, there are so many newspaper outlets which are cutting jobs and slashing salaries because they can no longer sustain profitability (which is a mark of hypocrisy to be dealt with later). They are so desperate to regain influence over the voters that they have resorted to invent news, invent opinions and invent outcomes. I know the founding fathers were very concerned with the freedom of the press, but I doubt that this is what they had in mind.

4 comments:

soonerfaninks said...

I agree that the old stewards of the news are dieing, and no doubt largely due to their poor stewardship of said news. However, I wonder if a poll like this is not a result of 24/7 news as much as dieing networks. When you have to talk for 24 hours straight, something must be created to talk about.

Chris said...

The poll was created by the AP (Associated Press) which is dominated by the old guard within the media. I saw no indications that this poll was given any due attention by the cable news networks or even CBS, NBC or ABC. But it's not like I watched those for proof.

soonerfaninks said...

I saw it on fox news to my dismay...

olapekim said...

Aren't all elections popularity contests?