Dakota Beacon

Reports reach us every day of new election polling results. Obama is up by X% over Romney in this state. Romney is ahead by Y percentage points in that state. The presidential candidates are tied in a close race in the battleground states.

Why is polling data such big news? Does anyone believe the polls?

Good questions. More to the point: Will polling data sway your vote or dissuade you from going to the polls? It is possible for a gullible person to regard polling data as the final word and give up before election day.

The only important poll is election day balloting when voters each cast their vote.

Two situations might be compared. People who hear about a bad economy but are not affected by that economy but who nevertheless get depressed. In the same way, people who hear about polls indicating that Obama is ahead also get depressed. Don’t fall for deception. The Obama campaign is betting that this ploy will dispirit conservative and Republican voters and keep them from voting.

First and foremost is the objective to defeat Obama on election day. Manipulated polling data must not keep voters from showing up at the polls to vote.

People may not recognize the term “push polling” but they do realize that polls can be used to generate news stories. The mainstream media is not above skewing poll data to fit their template. This is a form of effective negative campaigning. The intent is to depress the anti-Obama vote. That’s why polling data is such big news.

Push polling is designed to influence or change the view of people making them believe the poll is legitimate. Respondents answer questions but the questions are misleading and fraught with innuendo, propaganda and rumor mongering. There is no attempt to analyze the answers. Once conducted, the push poll results generate the news story touted as legitimate by the mainstream media.

It appears from e-mail traffic that senior Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod attempted to influence the Gallup Organization data collection process after Gallup published polls unfavorable to Obama. Gallup then resisted a law suit compiled by Obama’s Justice Depart on an unrelated matter. The suit has not yet been served to the Gallup Organization. Intimidation comes in many subtle forms.

Obama cannot run on his record of accomplishments. Therefore, he must run a negative campaign using dirty tricks, attack ads and, yes, skewed polling. His campaign will do anything to discourage opposition voters.

Take note of the wide disparity between polls, for example, the Rasmussen poll and others. Also, take note of the wide difference in percentage points between the two candidates in a given state. A ten to fifteen point spread is suspicious. Not all polls seek the truth.

Lastly, don’t mistake the lack of an enthusiastic Romney campaign for a lack of voter support for Romney come election day. The fact is that conservatives and Republicans are registering in record numbers, especially in the battleground states, and Democrats are not. This is not being reported. Republicans cannot wait to vote and they are doing so early. This, too, is not being reported.

There may be disappointment that the Romney camp is not showing more fire but that won’t keep people from voting to displace Obama on election day. People are on fire. This election is about stopping Obama and people know it.

How short are our memories! Remember the 2010 midterm elections and the shellacking the Democrats took starting in the US House of Representatives and working all the way down through the state and local governments? Polling data never predicted that beating. Given two additional years since 2010 and that Democrat shellacking may well be repeated -- and worse.

Who cares if Romney appears cold or stiff or distant? Even if it is true, so what? The point is to stop Obama and the way to do it is to vote for Romney on November 6.

My mama used to tell me, “Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.” With regard to polling data, that is sage advice.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or