First Article About Exit Polls
The Associated Press has a screaming headline that says "Exit polls show Democrats favored". And there is no - not one bit - of real data to back that assertion up. None.
All 435 House seats were on the ballot along with 33 Senate races, elections that Democrats sought to make a referendum on the president's handling of the war, the economy and more.
Voters also filled state legislative seats and decided hundreds of statewide ballot initiatives on issues ranging from proposed bans on gay marriage to increases in the minimum wage.
In surveys at polling places, about six in 10 voters said they disapproved of the way President Bush is handling his job, and roughly the same percentage opposed the war in Iraq. They were more inclined to vote for Democratic candidates than for Republicans.
In even larger numbers, about three-quarters of voters said scandals mattered to them in deciding how to vote, and they, too, were more likely to side with Democrats. The surveys were taken by The Associated Press and the networks.
That's the sum total of real information. It doesn't say anything other than a generic question on who do you favor. It doesn't give any information on how people voted. But this will be seized on by some on the left as "proof" they won. This is a bad article and a misleading headline.
UPDATE: Ed Morrisey sees the exact same thing from ABC.
I said earlier this week that the networks couldn't resist using the exit poll data for longer than an hour after they got it in confidence. As it turns out, I had the timing exactly correct. And what did it tell us? George Bush's approval rating.
Well, that's a scoop.
By Quilly Mammoth, Tuesday, 7 November , 2006 @ 6:29 pm
You know, _I_ disapprove of the way Bush is handling things. Things that the Democrats would be even worse at like Immigration, Medicare, National Education Policy, fighting a war on terror and not a civil police operation….
By Gaius, Tuesday, 7 November , 2006 @ 6:30 pm
Yeah. That’s why that approve/disapprove question is so misleading.