19 June 2005
Voting Blue in a Red Opinion Poll Site
No lawyers, no politicians
I found a site http://www.vote.com sometime in 2002. I urge all who read this to visit the site. In a "yes/no" or "agree/disagree" format, one can express an opinion "vote" on just about every major news item on Fox and in USAtoday. After responding, one can see the results plus to whom the "voters" data will be sent. For instance, today vote.com wants to know it I agree or disagree with President Bush that all the Democrats stand for is obstructionism. Registering my "Disagree" opinion, I find that only 11% of the country's "voters" agree with me, or that 89% agree with the President. Then, I find at the state level (CA), the results are still 89%-yes and 11%-no. Sometimes Californians do have different results than the national data. Then, further pointing out my isolation for living in the Bay Area, my district's results show that only 29% agree with the President and 71% disagree. I can only recall seeing one or two polls in which my district results were the same as the state and national results. I'm also informed that the results of this "vote" will go to the Democratic National Committee and to President Bush. I guess not all recipients are being revealed to the "voters."
Clearly, this is a Republican-oriented web site. The way questions are framed is overly general, like the DNC's survey's, and biased to obtain "votes" that support the Republican party line. The fact that the site title and the its participants are labelled "voters" gives a false impression of an impartial ballot box or opinion poll. It's neither. So, periodically I visit the site to cast my "undoubtedly wrong" opinions. If more of us did this, perhaps Vote.com will see its flagstaff flying purple colors.
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I found a site http://www.vote.com sometime in 2002. I urge all who read this to visit the site. In a "yes/no" or "agree/disagree" format, one can express an opinion "vote" on just about every major news item on Fox and in USAtoday. After responding, one can see the results plus to whom the "voters" data will be sent. For instance, today vote.com wants to know it I agree or disagree with President Bush that all the Democrats stand for is obstructionism. Registering my "Disagree" opinion, I find that only 11% of the country's "voters" agree with me, or that 89% agree with the President. Then, I find at the state level (CA), the results are still 89%-yes and 11%-no. Sometimes Californians do have different results than the national data. Then, further pointing out my isolation for living in the Bay Area, my district's results show that only 29% agree with the President and 71% disagree. I can only recall seeing one or two polls in which my district results were the same as the state and national results. I'm also informed that the results of this "vote" will go to the Democratic National Committee and to President Bush. I guess not all recipients are being revealed to the "voters."
Clearly, this is a Republican-oriented web site. The way questions are framed is overly general, like the DNC's survey's, and biased to obtain "votes" that support the Republican party line. The fact that the site title and the its participants are labelled "voters" gives a false impression of an impartial ballot box or opinion poll. It's neither. So, periodically I visit the site to cast my "undoubtedly wrong" opinions. If more of us did this, perhaps Vote.com will see its flagstaff flying purple colors.
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