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MINNESOTA POLL CONTINUES TO SHOW LIBERAL BIAS #2
By Michael B. Brodkorb | September 19, 2006
This is from a Star Tribune Q & A with Mr. Rob Daves of the Minnesota Poll:
"4. As you know, the Republicans have been complaining about your polls for years. In 2004, they even called for you to be fired. Obviously, it isn't just based on this latest poll but on a long-standing Republican complaint that the Minnesota Poll routinely understates Republican support. And they have a table of numbers that they say proves the pattern. Do you dispute their numbers? Do you dispute the pattern? How do you respond?
I saw that table a couple of years ago, and thought that someone must have a lot of time on their hands, Eric. But after I looked at it, it was clear that there were a couple of things going on. One is that they use faulty information.
Our past practice has been to poll the week before the election and publish those results on the Sunday before the election. In the early- to mid-1990s, it became clear that there was a shift toward the Republican candidate in the waning hours before the election. So we started doing tracking polls the two or three days just before the election, then publishing a chart on Wednesday after the election showing how things changed. Why after the election? Editors didn’t want to appear as if they were influencing the election by publishing close to Election Day, as the national polling organizations do.
In 2002 – which is one of the elections the Minnesota Poll's critics point to – our poll taken the week before the election and published on Sunday did, in fact, show a Walter Mondale lead. But the tracking poll, done on Sunday and Monday and published the day after the election, showed a dead heat at 45 percent for Mondale and 45 percent for Norm Coleman."
I have spoken with Mr. Daves a few times and I have found him to be a smug person. I listen to him last evening on Air America as he proudly mocked Republican complaints about his polling methods.
I and other staff at the Republican Party of Minnesota produced the chart referenced by Mr. Daves. It's a very simple chart:
Find the last published Minnesota Poll and compare it with the final election results. No spin, just raw numbers. It clearly shows the left leaning slant of the Minnesota Poll.
Mr. Daves was right at home last evening on Air America mocking Republicans who complained about his polling methods. I'll be inviting him to come on my radio show this Saturday.
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11 Responses to “MINNESOTA POLL CONTINUES TO SHOW LIBERAL BIAS #2”
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September 19th, 2006 at 10:03 AM
Isn’t it interesting that a member of the press, someone who is supposed to be objective and unbiased, would go on Air America to talk about the poll. I don’t think it’s appropriate for him to do that. I wonder if, now that he has, he will go on your radio show, Michael?
September 19th, 2006 at 10:42 AM
That’s almost as bad as a member of the press with a show on the Patriot hosting a partisan cesspool websitelike this.
September 19th, 2006 at 11:18 AM
Michael, Is their any way you can get this DFL
HACK DAVES interview on Air America and excerpt it on your RADIO SHOW ?
September 19th, 2006 at 11:21 AM
I also notice that the Q & A is done on Eric Black’s blog and NOT in the regular PAPER !!
September 19th, 2006 at 12:26 PM
RR, do you actually belive the crap you write? Because if you had any interest at all, no journalists have shows on the Patriot, and Mike is NOT a journalist.
Perhaps the `reporter’ part of your username has you confused?
September 19th, 2006 at 12:55 PM
Am I missing something here. To me it looks like the numbers on the left do not include undecided voters as the numbers to not add up to 100% whereas the numbers on the right do. This simply tells me that the undecided voters made up their mind in favor of the republicans.
September 19th, 2006 at 1:15 PM
Jon-
I just figured if a pollster was now considered a journalist, so would a republican party parrot.
My bad.
September 19th, 2006 at 9:38 PM
Well, he does work for the newspaper and is supposed to be objective and balanced. I guess what you’re saying Raving is that the pollster for the Star Tribune is neither objective or balanced and that his polls do not stand up to journalistic scrutiny. I think you just made the GOP’s point. Nice work!!!!!
September 20th, 2006 at 12:07 AM
Aw, but those primary numbers look even worse than the Minnesota Poll. The gop base is pissed and sitting on their hands.
September 20th, 2006 at 12:53 PM
Eva – how do you, a liberal activist with strong DFL ties, know that the GOP base is pissed and sitting on their hands?
October 1st, 2007 at 10:47 PM
[...] Minnesota Republicans seem to be beside themselves with joy today because a poll actually showed Norm Coleman to have approval ratings above 50% (and who can blame them after the scores of polls that show him under 50). But there’s something pretty amusing about the GOP all of a sudden praising the Minnesota Poll. It’s not so long ago that MDE’s titles looked something like this: KENNEDY CAMPAIGN ON MINNESOTA POLL: “THIS POLL SHOULD BE RUNNING IN THE COMICS, RIGHT NEXT TO GARFIELD†KENNEDY CAMPAIGN: ANOTHER MINNESOTA POLL TRIES TO INFLUENCE ELECTION MINNESOTA POLL CONTINUES TO SHOW LIBERAL BIAS MINNESOTA POLL CONTINUES TO SHOW LIBERAL BIAS #2 Funny how the tone changes when the results are to their liking… [...]