Reply #7: This is an important point for another reason: [View All]

Polling is so accurate that the candidates are able to refine their messages with almost scientific precision in response to polling.

It is so clear to me that Al Gore and Ralph Nader were looking at polling data that showed that Gore was going to win FL and that Nader wasn't going to steal crucial votes. According to Pallast, over 300,000 people who were probably contributing to polling data ultimately didn't have their votes counted.

I'm sure the Democrats factor in denial of voting rights into their formulas for statistical analysis, but they probably had no way of realizing that they're be as much bullshit in Florida as there was.

I think that, if both Gore and Nader knew the REAL numbers you would have seen different behavior from both candidates which would have resulted in a Democratic victory (ie, Nader would have reduced his campaigning in FL and/or Gore would have taken effective, affirmative measures to either coopt or counter the Green vote).

For me, the disenfrenchisement of, mostly, black Democratic votes is the true story of the election, and, although I have mixed feelings about Nader (I totally appreciate his strategy and his role in modern politics, but I often wonder about him understanding how many Americans really experience America), I definitely don't blame him for Bush's ascension to the throne.