Granted, this is a non-scientific poll. Granted these are AOL users. But 535-3?…
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AOL Straw Poll: Bush 535, Kerry 3 - Comments Page 2
Granted, this is a non-scientific poll. Granted these are AOL users. But 535-3?…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - DAVID MURRAY
If all you nutty liberals want to think that AOL hasn't moved their straw poll to a different location and made it very difficult to access, be my guest. A lot of people believe in UFOS too. The fact remains that AOL was happy when Kerry was leading back a few months ago, but they're not happy at all now that the president leads in all 50 states. It's a real surprise that they would take down their banner that said "vote in aol straw poll" on the home page, and move the poll. I mean, we all know that the media in this country is always fair and would never do something like that, don't we? Aside from all that liberal media nonsense that we've all grown accustomed to, your boy John is going to get a good old-fashioned ass-whipping on November 2, and there's nothing aol or cbs or abc or nbc or cnn or msnbc or the NY Times or the LA Times or any of Kerry's other buddies in the media can do about it. So get used to it.
27 - Bob
Thank You David. That was exactly my point. I don't think the liberals got the point I was making. And the talk about it not being unscientific? It's probably just as scientific as any CNN/Gallup poll where they skew the questions so the answers come out the way they want them to or call a bunch of Democrats and ask who they are voting for. The AOL poll was just AOL members regardless of their party affiliations. We on the "right" side see the liberal media for what it is and don't fall into their agenda trap. The AOL staw poll is not there today either. Maybe just a two day gliche? And yes AOL is for dummies because it takes a real genius to figure out how to use Internet Explorer and Google.
28 - Bobby
I have been following the straw poll for at least a month. Suddenly it is no longer found on AOL. I had to Google it and found this link. Time Warner has a strong liberal bias in its news reporting and I can only conclude that they were only too happy to display the straw poll when Kerry was ahead and now they are totally astounded/embarassed/nauseated when Bush carries all 50 states. They cant believe their own stupid eyes! Whether the poll was scientific or not is not the point.
29 - boomcrashbaby
Above the screenshot of the map, on this page, the blog includes a link to the straw poll. When I click on it, it's still there.
30 - boomcrashbaby
there's nothing aol or cbs or abc or nbc or cnn or msnbc or the NY Times or the LA Times or any of Kerry's other buddies in the media can do about it.
I'm unaware of the AOL poll before the posting of this blog, but if they moved it, based on the discussion here, it looks like they moved all election/political stuff to electionguide04.com.
The numerous right wing rants about this being a tactic by the liberal media to supress information to the masses makes for a good chuckle.
31 - Bobby
It is not on electionguide04. Can't be found,dude. Previously, it was in your face.
32 - brian
go to keywork straw poll it is there
33 - RJ
"And, let's not overlook the 'darkies are dumb enough to vote for Democrats' slam at D.C."
Uh, blacks make up about 60% of the population in DC, and DC always goes for Dems.
I didn't notice any implied "darkies are stupid" reference in this post. Please cite it.
34 - RJ
"this fabricated 'poll' is too flawed to be taken seriously."
Of course. As an unscientific poll, it is pretty much meaningless.
However, this poll does show a major Bush bounce. And the scientific polls show the same thing. So there is a slight correlation there, no?
35 - michelle scott
Accuracy is related to sample size. Hard to skew 273,000 votes.I trust this sample size compared to the 1000 in Rasmussen polls. 35% is also Kerry's last favorability rating.
36 - Hal Pawluk
Accuracy is also related to the sample selection.
The commercial polls develop their samples using statistics to get a representative sample geographically, economically, and with other demographics.
AOL results are based on only AOL members. I don't know what that profile is, but one thing is that they're dial-up users and those have a different profile from broadband users.
I don't think that anyone knows whether they're urban or rural, young or old, likely voters or not, etc. nor whether they are representative of populations of the states they "vote" from.
It's just an AOL poll, and not projectable to the real world.
37 - Eric
I noticed after the big boost aol moved the poll link......but then again I'm a conservative idiot that uses aol and yahoo, so I figured it was just me.
38 - boomcrashbaby
The reason is simple: there are not nearly enough ACFs in the world to accommodate all the technologically challenged. For example, there are currently 860,000 beds available in ACFs but there are 29 million AOL users.
I think my comment #3 has upset several AOL users on this thread. I should restate that it isn't my own personal opinion but something that has 'tagged along' with the AOL name ever since it's inception. That is part of the reason behind AOL's success, is that it made technology easy for the technology challenged.
Nowhere in comment 3 did I imply that only conservatives use AOL, I'm quite sure there would be millions of liberals there too.
Rather than getting upset about it (it's bad on the heart), perhaps you should smile like those at homeschoolchristian.com:
SHOULD MY LOVED ONE BE PLACED IN AN ASSISTED COMPUTING FACILITY?
Several corporations have sought permission to have certain employees, or at times entire sales departments, committed to ACFs. At present, however, individuals can be committed only by direct family, or self-internment. The reason is simple: there are not nearly enough ACFs in the world to accommodate all the technologically challenged. For example, there are currently 860,000 beds available in ACFs, but there are 29 million AOL users.
The only thing worse than a conservative with political power is a conservative with no sense of humor.
39 - boomcrashbaby
oops. Ignore that part in italics. I goofed. Maybe that qualifies me for free 600 hours on AOL dial-up?
40 - Bob
For those that beleive that the poll is mostly from the dull witted people who use AOL, remember that there are a LOT of dull witted people and even the dull witted get to vote!
41 - RJ
"For those that beleive that the poll is mostly from the dull witted people who use AOL, remember that there are a LOT of dull witted people and even the dull witted get to vote!"
Good point!
Which is why I believe Kerry will probably carry West Virginia in November.
[rim shot]
42 - boomcrashbaby
That was a good one, RJ.
43 - David Murray
All you technological geniuses who seem to think that AOL is dial-up, let me enlighten you. I have AOL with high-speed internet. And I don't live in some hillbilly part of the country like Arkansas or West Virginia (which both coincidentally, have a lot more democrats than republicans residing there). And I don't have a room-temperature IQ like most liberals I know. I have more common sense in my little finger than most liberals have in their whole body. So relax and enjoy the ride for the next month and a half. Your boy is going down in flames, then he can go back to his mansion and his butler in Boston where he belongs. He,s not qualified to be dog-catcher. Just because the people of Massachusetts are dumb enough to elect this spoiled rich fool doesn't mean the rest of the country is.
44 - boomcrashbaby
I'm surprised that the joke about AOL is so new to people here, it's as old as blonde jokes. There's even television commercials where people make fish sculptures of all the AOL CD's they get in the mail. It's not a partisan attack any more than a pollack or blonde joke. But I see how quickly it becomes one from the right (comment 43). If the jokes ran that the French were the ones technogically challenged I'm real sure your manchettes de chemise would be getting all hérissé.
45 - Evilwhiteguy
My shirt cuffs would be getting ruffled?
46 - boomcrashbaby
I'm practising.
What I've learned here though is that too many conservatives now see absolutely everything from the left as an attack. Even a joke that had nothing to do with political ideology.
47 - Ricard
I think the liberals have to concede that AOL did in fact move the straw poll intentionally. Before September 10 you could access it by going to key word "straw poll." But this is not the case anymore.
48 - David Murray
Of course they moved it in order to hide it from everyone because they were embarrassed by the results. It's not even something that you can intelligently dispute (but that has never stopped liberal democrats before, so why should it now?) If you told a democrat that the sun rose in the east, and it hurt Kerry's chances of being elected, they would all swear that it rose in the west. AOL moved the poll on Sept. 8. At that time, there were 328,00 votes registered in the 8 day period between Sept. 1-8. (the poll is reset at the beginning of each month). Since moving it, only another 5,000 votes have been registered in the past 8 days for a total of 333,000. Let's see- 328,000 the first 8 days of the month and 5,000 the next 8 days, you don't think there's a correlation there do you? nah, they did'nt hide the poll, that's just a coincidence. There goes that sun coming up in the west again.
49 - jimibovo
Hi,
Yeah, I found this site while looking for the straw poll. Been going to AOLs election site looking for a link to the poll, which I had easily accessed previously. Haven't found them link to it at all since the convention boost.
50 - bhw
I just searched AOL keyword "straw poll" and got to the poll.
I must fit AOL's demographic, though, because I can't figure out how to vote in the poll.
51 - bhw
One legitimate question about the poll, as is sometimes the case with online polls, is if a single user can answer the poll question more than once.
But since I can't figure out how to participate even just once, I'll have to settle for leaving it as a question.
52 - Eric Olsen
If Bush wins every state but DC will that constitute a "mandate"?
53 - bhw
In the straw poll or real life? ;-)
54 - Mac Diva
I've blogged the real polls today. Seems to need doing before this AOL straw poll becomes 'reality' to our large Right Wing cadre. Wake up, everybody.
The Blogcritics version should appear soon.
55 - David Murray
It only lets you vote once each month
56 - Right Wing Conspirator
AOL is definitely not the best ISP, but it provides some nice features for the whole family. Not everyone is a technical genius like boomcrashbaby, but my 3 year old son is getting there.
P.S. That link could always be found when Skerry was up in the poll, usually 5 times a week. Now you have to do a keyword search to find it.
57 - bhw
It only lets you vote once each month
Per screen name? I have three on my account, so could I vote three times, once for each name?
58 - boomcrashbaby
If AOL has moved their poll, have any of you AOL users bothered to send them an email and ask why?
59 - Mac Diva
One vote per month, even for people who are not sneaky. Multiple accounts. And, I bet, the cookies can be erased, if AOL bothers monitoring it at all. This thing is looking more and more like an exercise in wish fulfillment.
60 - boomcrashbaby
Dan Rather hacked into their server and moved it.
61 - pizzaman
it's not so much the bush landslide you libs should be worried about.... it's his coattails... with 60+ republican senators and a firm grip on the house, we'll get sensible federal judges appointed, permanent tax cuts, spending rate reductions etc. with the mainstream media withering on the vine ( great theatre by the way...must see t.v.) the left has been exposed as a fossil whose time is up....required reading should include "after" by stephen brill and "the future of freedom" by fareed zakaria for all idealists who think if we just apoligize for everything and get in touch with our feelings and then everything will be all better....a little research into the crusades might also shed some light of truth about why prayers at the mosque always end with "death to america"
62 - Mac Diva
Wow! The Crusades of 2005, eh? So much to look forward to if Shrub wins.
63 - pizzaman
don't worry mac, we're gonna keep some of the uneducated ones around to do the heavy lifting.... you'll be spared
64 - Hal Pawluk
a little research into the crusades might also shed some light of truth about why prayers at the mosque always end with "death to america""
And why U. S. Cabinet meetings begin with a prayer that ends: "God told me to do this."
65 - pizzaman
you think i made that up , don't you hal....well, we'll keep you around too... with mac.... exhibit a and b...
66 - Hal Pawluk
No, I don't think you made it up.
But U.S. Cabinet meetings do all start with a prayer, and George W. Bush has said that his God made him president, so there are similarities.
67 - harry carter
I am so glad to know that I am not the only one to find that AOL made it so hard to access the poll. It looks as if NO votes have been recorded since I looked at the site over a week ago. What a surprise to find that this little poll has been buried. I doubt that this would be the case if the results were reversed. There is a monumental landslide coming in November.
68 - bhw
harry, you're assuming, for one thing, that the people willing to click a button on their computer screen will also actually drive to the polling booths on election day. We are known here in the US to not have the best voter turnout.
69 - the gaulieter
you are correct harry...it won't be pretty....here's some even more horrifying news for the left. my son is a member of the young republicans at a very fashionable and expensive private college in the northeast, and he reports that they had a much better "recruiting class" this year than the young dems.....more proof that liberalism is on life support....amen
70 - Sondra
To dismiss the AOL poll because it is from AOL members (characterized on this page as not computer savvy), is a big mistake. There are many, many registered voters in the US who do not own a computer and have never used a computer, yet alone AOL. AOL is a cross-section of the county, albeit not computer savvy. In addition, the number of repondents to the poll is far greater than the 800-900 polled by pollsters on a regular basis.
Incidentally, I have AOL and another ISP and I chose to keep AOL.
71 - RJ
"That was a good one, RJ."
Thank you, Boom. I have my moments...
72 - RJ
"In addition, the number of repondents to the poll is far greater than the 800-900 polled by pollsters on a regular basis."
But 900 polled SCIENTIFICALLY bests a hundred million polled UNSCIENTIFICALLY every day of the week.
Please take a Statistics course, everyone. You'll quickly learn about "self-selection" and the like...
73 - RJ
HOWEVER, this flawed poll DOES correlate somewhat with what the REAL professional pollsters are saying.
In other words, Bush got a nice bounce from his convention. And Kerry didn't get anything from his.
Dems should be worried, though not because of some AOL poll. They should be more concerned about Gallup...
74 - Evilwhiteguy
Hey Hal, as soon as a group of fundamentalist Christians fly a few jumbo jets into buildings in the Middle East, then you can start counting similarities.
Praying for a higher power to give you guidance to do the right thing and praying for the death of America just don't quite count as "similarities".
75 - harry carter
I choose to believe that a cross section of Americans using AOL participating in their straw poll IS more scientific and more believable than a pollster calling 900 people from New England and asking them whom they would vote for for President. I also firmly believe that many pollsters are attempting to influence the election with their skewed polling results, so much so that the AOL poll becomes much more believeable. Besides, Sondra, a poll of 100 million would be called an "election" would it not? Should we disregard the votes of these great unwashed unscientifically chosen heathens in favor of a "scientifically" chosen few? I have learned over the years that "statistics" can be (and are) too often bent to the desires of the person utilizing the data.