Saturday, November 6, 2004

Results are in.....

***************** The Polling Station ********************  
Nov. 4, 2004                         218,329 Subscribers  

         Results You Will Not See Anywhere Else...  
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Greetings citizen:  

Well, we think the methodology employed by the Polling  
Station was proven out. Zogby International predicted a 311  
electoral win for Kerry. We missed PA, no doubt about it,  
but we nailed the popular vote.  

This experiment started out just to prove a polling  
methodology. That was successful, but some point the  
experiment changed. The polling actually took second place  
to building a community of diverse political opinions. Think  
about this real hard.  

We had MoveOn.org, the left-leaning organization, advertise  
with us. We had RightMarch.com, an ultra-conservative  
organization, advertise inside issues. We have EVERY  
political stripe reading this publication.  

There are few organizations that can satisfy both  
conservative and progressive constituencies. But we bridged  
the gap with the Polling Station. We did this with keeping  
the numbers pure and separate from our editorial comments.  

When we decided to create this community, we let different  
analysts from Henry, Sean and Jane express themselves  
openly. Certainly this is not what conventional pollsters  
do. Most HIDE BEHIND their biases. Here, we kept the numbers  
UNBIASED and let the biases of our people flower. Readers  
often misunderstood what we were doing.  

90,000 people unsubscribed over the past 6 moths. That is an  
astounding number. They couldn't take the purity of the  
numbers and the impurity of the comments. We did not fit.  
BUT WE CREATED SOMETHING SPECIAL TOGETHER. You do not see  
reader comments with traditional pollsters either, yet this  
is just one thing that made this special.  

We are continuing this community and hope you stick around  
as we move forward. We have had an extraordinary journey  
together and we have places yet to travel. Thank you all  
for making this a successful experiment that will certainly  
change the way things are done in the future.  

Warmest regards,  
From the entire Polling Station team  

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                   How Did We Do?  

Polling Station ...... Reality ......... Zogby  

Bush ...... 51%  ........ 51%  .........  49%  
Kerry ..... 47%  ........ 48%  .........  49%  
Nader et al  2%  ........  1%  .........   2%  

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Polling Station ...... Reality ......... Marist  

Bush ...... 51%  ........ 51%  .........  49%  
Kerry ..... 47%  ........ 48%  .........  50%  
Nader et al  2%  ........  1%  .........   1%  

-----------------------------------------------------------  

Polling Station ...... Reality ......... Harris  

Bush ...... 51%  ........ 51%  .........  49%  
Kerry ..... 47%  ........ 48%  .........  48%  
Nader et al  2%  ........  1%  .........   3%  

-----------------------------------------------------------  

Polling Station ...... Reality ......... CNN  

Bush ...... 51%  ........ 51%  .........  49%  
Kerry ..... 47%  ........ 48%  .........  50%  
Nader et al  2%  ........  1%  .........   1%  

-----------------------------------------------------------  

Polling Station ...... Reality ......... Fox  

Bush ...... 51%  ........ 51%  .........  46%  
Kerry ..... 47%  ........ 48%  .........  48%  
Nader et al  2%  ........  1%  .........   6%  


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Our question of the week was rephrased. We're now asking:  

    Do you believe that EMBRYONIC stem cell research  
    should continue?  

To register your opinion on the national opinion poll,  
Visit: http://rd.gophercentral.com/al/a?aid=6802&ent=1954  

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                   Reader Comments  


I'm furious at myself for even letting myself read  
this junk. -NES  

[We are like chocolate, a guilty pleasure. -Jane]  

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What is this poll? Something the Bush campaign thought up  
to influence voters? I don't think it's a coincidence that  
you guys predict a landslide win for bush THE NIGHT BEFORE  
the election, when every other critical poll and source has  
it deadlocked or Kerry winning by a small margin, its  
bullshit and you guys know it, get out of Bush's pocket.  

[If we were in Bush's pocket, we wouldn't have to sell  
light pens to subsidize this. -Henry]  

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I have a suggestion for your activities for the future. Use  
the base that you have created with this poll to help  
change the election system to eliminate the all-or-nothing  
Electoral College voting system. I would prefer results  
based on popular vote results, but we should at least get  
to a proportional Electoral College result. - T. Cincotta  

---------------------  

I've read your comments this week, and it amazes me again  
how finely drawn are party lines.  People are angry at YOU  
because the polls say Bush is leading. Irrational! -Mary  

---------------------  

I really enjoyed participating in your poll and bantering  
occasionally with the staff concerning the "nature of a  
conservative."  I think that internet polling is the wave  
of the future because all studies have shown that internet  
communication is the most honest. -PID  

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I want to tell you BEFORE the results are known that you  
have indeed created a community and I enjoy being part of  
it!  It is great to be heard!  I look forward to coming  
events! -Pat  

---------------------  

I think that the results will not be accurate because I  
know that I myself stopped reading the mail and responding  
because it felt to me like it was just a bunch of pro bush  
propaganda...And I'm sure others felt the same way. So I  
can see why you feel the #s are pro bush...as probably a  
lot of anti bush folks stopped responding to the polls. HM  

---------------------  

But in the end, you've collected thousands or tens of  
thousands of email addresses and huckstered pens and flags  
and coin purses (OK, so I bought a couple of coin purses  
and they ARE pretty nice.), regardless of WHO wins.  

[We honestly do not care who has won this election. This  
experiment has taken on a whole new meaning as the community  
has shared their passions. We are continuing this community  
and will give you plenty of opportunity to express your  
views and share them with the group. Thanks.]  

---------------------  

Of course you don't care who wins; You don't have a dog in  
this fight.  But you don't have a legitimate cross-section  
of the electorate, either. So, sometime late this week I'll  
get an email from you admitting that you were wrong, with  
some mumbo-jumbo reference to The New Voters, and offering  
to sell me glow-in-the-dark sneakers or something like that.  

[Where can I get those shoes???]  

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You people are a bunch of liars and hogwash, you lied about  
taking this poll,your website is definitely to the far  
right, you are not fair and non-partisan, you have no right  
to claim a winner yet, it just goes to show how bias and  
hypocritical your site is, you are trying to intimidate and  
influence voters. You should be ashamed. Delete my darn  
e-mail address from your listing, YOU IDIOTS!  

[We either are getting these kinds of emails or those  
blessing us for doing the Lord's work. Neither is correct.  
We are just predicting and not advocating. -Steve]  

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I sure  hope you are right!  I just got back from voting and  
the lines are quite long for my area. It was fun filling out  
the polls on this site, and again I hope and pray you are  
correct. -Ceil  

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Fortunately you morons will be proven decisively wrong  
tonight. Immediately remove me from your e-mail list. I  
will no longer subscribe or support a right wing biased  
Karl Rove designed polling group. You should be ashamed of  
yourselves. - Conover  

---------------------  

I don't appreciate your blatantly partisan polling and  
biased results. You claim to be neutral but your comments  
prove otherwise. -Kevin  

---------------------  

Thank you for sticking to your guns in spite of all the  
naysayers that continually criticize your methods. Good job  
well done. -G. Ferracone  

---------------------  

Excellent job. Your prediction regarding popular vote was  
right on the money. You missed on Pennsylvania but it was  
much closer than the networks thought after faulty exit  
polls. Continue your experiment, you were as good as any  
other poll. Just get off the judgment statements, saying  
you are "anti-war" makes you look slanted (I'm a  
conservative) but it didn't appear in your numbers, if you  
can leave out the personal comments, you're better than all  
existing polls. Great job and congratulations on a  
successful experiment. -Mac  

[The overwhelming truth is that OUR opinions did not affect  
the numbers. We have opinions and voiced them in the  
community, but we NEVER let them affect the numbers.]  

---------------------  

Just a word of congratulations on a very interesting  
"experiment". I have been watching and participating in  
this poll for months now with fascination and you have  
proved your approach to be true and reliable. Great work.  
-Joe  

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Since Bush won, we may as well be bombed off the face of  
the earth.  It would be better than being stuck in another  
four year regime under that idiot.  The worst thing is that  
if something happens to Bush, we'll have that moron DICK  
ruining the country. I'm very disappointed in this country  
and will not ever vote again! -B Whiteblack  

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Opinions have no place in a revealing the results. We are  
smart enough to interpret the results for ourselves and  
come to our own conclusions. The email is full of opinions  
that make me concerned that your OPINIONS WILL CHANGE  
PEOPLES VOTE! -Stephen  


             End of Readers Comments  

This was only a representative sampling. Until next week,  
have a great week.  

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Comments, Questions? VISIT US AT:  
http://rd.gophercentral.com/al/a?aid=6802&ent=2052  

***********************************************************  
Copyright 2004. All rights reserved.  
Feel free to forward this, in its entirety, to others.  

21st Century Campaigns  
77 West Wacker Drive #4800  
Chicago, Illinois 60601  


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