Pollsters: Lying to Achieve Desired Results?

Lots of headlines over the past few days about Bush's falling poll numbers; every new one has his approval rating at "its lowest level ever". Well, there is a reason for that - they are skewing the sample to achieve the desired result. Via Pejman on Chequer-Board:

The AP/Ipsos poll, which has Bush's approval rating at 37%, said its respondents self-identified 49% Dem and 40% Repub, yielding a nine-point differential favoring the Dems. This represents a 12-point swing in the electorate since 2004. Only 80% of the respondents in this poll were registered voters...while 13% of the respondents reported that they were unemployed (the current unemployment rate is about 5%-6%), and 31% said they were between the ages of 18-34 (this was the only age group that Sen. John Kerry carried in the last presidential election, and it actually voted in a much smaller percentage than that represented in this poll).

The ABC/Washington Post poll, which shows that Bush's approval rating is at 39%, saw its respondents break down thusly: 52% said they leaned toward the Dems, and 41% leaned toward the Repubs. That represents a 14-point swing since last year's elections.Will someone explain how the demographic breakdowns in these polls represent accurate pictures of the electorate, given what we know about the 2004 election (and the 2002 mid-terms)?

Amazing. Registered Republicans outregister Democrats (by about 2%, granted) in the US at the current time, yet the polls above are over-sampling Democrats by almost 20%. They are over-representing both the young and unemployed, and in the insane AP poll above, have 20% of their overall sample as unregistered voters!

But maybe some kudos to the pollsters are in order here. They know that only anti-Bush news will get the headlines; so they are crafting the results to get the attention they crave. Our media ignores the horrendous methodology here, because they are being told what they want to hear. Facts don't matter, only conclusions reaching the results they desire.

Forgot the lessons of the forged CBS Bush memos already, boys? I have a feeling you will be re-learning it shortly...


Link to A Chequer-Board of Days and Nights here: http://www.chequer-board.net/story/2005/11/4/233822/274