Friday, October 17, 2008

Week 4- Election Post

Presidential Race

Rasmussen Reports 10/13-10/15:
  • Barack Obama- 50%
  • John McCain- 46%
The Early Line: Diageo/Hotline Tracking Poll 10/13-10/15:
  • Barack Obama- 49%
  • John McCain- 41%
  • Undecided- 7%
Looks like Obama's in the lead and is holding an advantage over the battleground states. And recently, he's had a double digit lead. John McCain is going to have to step it up a notch if he wants to beat Obama.

Senate Race

PPP 10/06-10/07:
  • Mark Warner- 58%
  • Jim Gilmore-31%
SurveyUSA 10/04-10/05:
  • Mark Warner- 61%
  • Jim Gilmore- 31%
Mark Warner is in the lead by double digits as well. He's been in the lead since the race started so there really isn't any surprise here. Gilmore hasn't been in the lead for any polls yet and it looks like it's going to stay that way.

Polls are widely used for many elections, particularly the presidential election. They're useful in showing the public information such as people's opinions, who's in the lead for the election and statistics of the people who are running. They have the power to sway a lot of votes and can be analyzed year after year to find trends that can be useful for predicting future election results. They are accurate most of the time, but once in a while they can be inaccurate. The 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush is a shiny example. Gore was winning in all of the polls but Bush ended up winning the election. According to this year's election's polls, we can't really determine who is going to win. The numbers aren't too far apart so either candidate could win in the end. Overall, polling is the best technique in gauging public opinions.

2 comments:

Melanie said...

jessica nice post!!
yes obama is in the lead by double digits!!
it's interesting how you used the 2000 election as an example of poll inaccuracy. it's true, they can be inaccurate. but most of the time they aren't and they're useful to keep the country informed about what's going on!!!!

personpitch said...

with the gore polls, they were correct in predicting which candidate the majority of americans wished to be in office. the only thing is that polls such as the ones you are referring to do not account for the electoral college which was how bush ended up winning.