# RealClearPolitics is biased towards John McCain **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 2, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realclearpolitics-is-biased-towards-john-mccain/466162 "2008-10-02T14:03:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Influential\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Influential\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Influential_Panda)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realclearpolitics-is-biased-towards-john-mccain/466162/1 "2008-10-02T14:03:09Z")
Interesting post from [fivethirtyeight.com](http://fivethirtyeight.com) this morning. [http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/real-credibility-problems.html](http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/real-credibility-problems.html) > [@](#): > > whatever RCP’s reasons were for excluding ARG from its averages, none of those reasons should have changed over the past 48 hours. Did ARG suddenly improve its level of disclosure? No. Did their polls suddenly become more accurate? How could they, when we haven’t had any elections to evaluate them. > > No. The only thing that changed is that ARG released a set of three polls yesterday that had considerably more favorable numbers for John McCain than other contemporaneous polls of those states. In each of those states – North Carolina, Virginia, Nevada – ARG is presently the outlier on the John McCain side (tied with Mason-Dixon in the case of Virginia). RCP did not feel any compulsion to include ARG’s numbers when ARG cycled through all 50 states a couple of weeks ago (including many where there has been very little polling). Only when ARG released this gravity-defying set of polling in Virginia and North Carolina and Nevada did RCP suddenly have a change of heart. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realclearpolitics-is-biased-towards-john-mccain/466162/2 "2008-10-02T14:10:13Z")
I don’t know if they’re biased (well, there’s a definate conservative slant in the ratio of articles they feature but that doesn’t mean their data crunching is biased) but I noticed the ARG inclusion myself. My first thought was “When did ARG get out of the RCP doghouse?” I suppose I won’t know if RCP is ‘cheating’ or not until ARG starts releasing some Obama favorable polls. Which, knowing ARG, will be **Utah: Obama +837** ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realclearpolitics-is-biased-towards-john-mccain/466162/3 "2008-10-02T14:18:35Z")
I’m kind of amazed at RCP, or anyone, using the likes of ARG. There are plenty of polls with proven track records and, more or less, transparency to their methodologies. Anyone using an untested, unproven and opaque pollster clearly is pushing an agenda rather than an attempt to provide the truth. Particularly when that pollster is providing data that seems noticeably at odds with other, established polls. Who knows…maybe ARG will be vindicated. If so fine, they can add themselves to the list of reliable pollsters but till that is proven they should not be listed IMO. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realclearpolitics-is-biased-towards-john-mccain/466162/4 "2008-10-02T14:33:22Z")
Was it RCP that wouldn’t use the R2K numbers from DailyKos because Kos was paying for it? I thought that was a weird choice as well, and 538 addressed it too.