FAQ about Exit Polling And Why John Kerry Won In 2004

[bluestateguy]

4. The exit polls that year were poorly executed

I'm not saying there were not problems with suppression, and Ken Blackwell's little games. There were .

But that year the exit polling company (VNS) had a lot of poorly trained workers who did not follow procedures. These practices for survey-taking are carefully designed by pollsters, statisticians and political scientists. In many cases you had young exit poll workers (graduate students looking to pick up some extra rent money, etc.) who skirted those practices and this produced faulty results.

Also, there is the media. The media is chock full of lazy and ignorant reporters who don't know how to read polls. When the exit poll shows a 2% lead for one candidate, you don't dare call the state as soon as the polls close. You wait and count the goddam actual votes.