http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=245530&page=1&pp=50
Well, the results are in.
If the election were today, Kerry would win by a 82 to 18 ratio!!!
Can that be right?
So, the obvious question is, can this poll be accurate? Or, can one make the assumsion that most people who use SDMB are Democrats? I don’t think so.
I believe it to be a fare indication of the state of things.
What say you? Oooooo, that sounded like O’Reilly!!!
Exactly. So all the national polls by professional pollsters which show radically different results (such as this one by the New York Times/CBS showing Bush leading by 46-43) are all wrong. Your poll is right. Can’t be that the SDMB is predominantly liberal. Brilliant.
Are you serious???
Just confirms what I’ve always thought…the SDMB is liberal.
(Just a side note: I live in NJ, and I noticed an article that says that in PA, which went for Gore last year, Bush has a slight lead. Hmm…doesn’t sound like 82-18 
Among those fighting ignorance, Bush loses.
Draw your own conclusions.*
Much as I would love this sort of a lopsided Kerry victory (especially if accompanied by a gain in Dem-held congressional seats, statehouses and state legislatures) I’m afraid we’re doomed to eight months of slogging through shit to another nail-biting conclusion.
*And yes, I am aware of the statistical invalidity of the original poll so just save it.
Interestingly, though, the American Family Association’s own poll , now hidden from view of the main page, gives Kerry a similar advantage. I realize it isn’t any more scientific than any other internet poll, but still,it is a site supposedly visited by the most conservative of the conservative.
If nothing else, it indicates that liberals are organizing to defeat conservative polls. This could indicate a willingness to organize like never befpre to beat conservatives at the polls, too.
Or it could mean what those of us who are not left of center have said for years - the SDMB is a leftie board.
Stay tuned for breaking news on the Pope’s religious orientation.
Actually, I think the poll is valid, in that it accurately reflects the proportion of left to right hereabouts. Four to one is roughly correct.
Regards,
Shodan
I’m not really ‘right’ or ‘left’.
I shun extremes, and I think Bush is more extremely conservative than Kerry is extremely liberal.
And I just can’t stand John Ashcroft.
Intelligent people who are out to fight ignorance prefer Kerry.
Stupid people who listen to talk radio prefer Bush.
Says it all, really. 
And the folks saying “the SDMB is swarming with lefties!” are merely folks in denial about themselves… 
Oh, my. And just think: Only yesterday rjung posted a message in GD that I actually agreed with. One out of 7,374 ain’t bad, I guess.
Yeah the SDMB is fun, but it hardly represents the thinking of mid-stream America.
45-45 seems to be about the norm on most polls. It’s still too early to guess, really. More exposure could be Kerry’s undoing. Bush may accomplish some more blunders. Sharpton might rally the masses. Nader’s raiders may swell in number. There’s still the possibiility that Judge Roy Moore may enter the race and garner 51% of the final vote. The possibilities are endless, and thus much fun at this point.
Sure, tell me why I shouldn’t be. I’ve beenntrying to find a flaw in this that would indicate that it’s not accurate. But, I can’t seem to.
Es o si que es
Well, for one thing it’s not a random sample.
That about sums it up for me.
While we’re talking about polls, there’s one thing that really bugs me about these 48% to 43% or whatever national polls. Wouldn’t it be more accurate to break it down by State and then figure out the electoral totals?
Haj
I don’t see how the subset of SDMB members that participated in your poll (nor even the entire SDMB membership) could be considered a valid sample from which useful conclusions about the general population could be drawn. It’s been a couple of decades since I had a statistics class, so I can’t give you a good explanation for that, but as Otto already pointed out it’s not even a random sample.
Anyway, thanks for doing the poll. I’ve been curious for a while about just how small a minority Bush supporters, such as myself, are on this board. The poll gives some indication of that at least.
Whenever I hear the arrogant argument that any “thinking” person will vote for Kerry, it just makes me more determined to vote for Bush, even though I don’t fully support a good number of his poclicies and decisions, just to piss off the liberals that think they have a monopoly on open minded thinking when, in fact, with statements like this they are proving just the opposite.
Even if you are saying it half joking, in the end you should know that it does NOTHING to help your cause by saying such things. All it does is piss off moderates that you actually have a chance of winning over.I’m by no means a liberal or left-of-center, but if given the choice only between Bush and Kerry as that post did, I’d go with Kerry by far. Bush is an extremist religious zealot, and we know what happens when they get into power.
It saddens me to see such a high percentage of people in our country supporting someone like him. He wouldn’t even be an “also-ran” in the rest of the world. This country is going to be hurt very badly if he gets another 4 years, very very badly.
You realize of course the irony of responding to a crack about how “thinking people” vote by mindlessly voting for the other?
Can I say that any thinking person wouldn’t vote for a candidate just to piss off people he or she is irritated with?
This is probably true.
No. Just stop and think for a minute. The largest percentage of popular vote I could find was from 1964 when LBJ got right around 61% of the vote. The results of this poll place it at 133% of that. That, my friends, is absolutely impossible. Walter Mondale didn’t even get beat that badly, and he only won Minnesota and DC.
You do? There are dictators running unopposed with the spectre of election fraud and murdering dissenters that don’t get results like this. If you think this is “a fair indication” you need to take off your blinders. The truth is, despite what you read here, Kerry will be lucky to win.
Oh, and one other thing. This board is so insanely ding-dong liberal that it’s reaching through cyberspace for my wallet now. I hope this poll puts to rest any doubts about the slant of this board.