The wrong result will reflect how uneducated this country really is.

Those who think he beat McCain in the first debate, the term “idiot” comes into mind.

“Sometimes you get more men than women, sometimes more dems than republicans.”
Yes, which is why it isn’t random sampling. In random sampling, your samples have to be the same, so you can compare the differences between them.

“So do think a better polling method would be to make sure you have a 50/50 split dem/republican?
Yes, since that way, you will get opinions, which are NEVER random and what we are trying to discover.

Do you not see the flaw in that method?
No, what I see is someone who thinks a random sample and an opinion poll are the same thing. Since you won’t believe me if I tell you they aren’t, google the two terms.

“What if there just are more people who identify themselves as democrat?”
There are. IIRC, it is something like 35.2 to 32.8, with the rest being undecided (independent).
What is interesting is when you break it down not by party, but but conservative/liberal. Then it breaks down into 60% conservative and 20% liberal, with 20% that refuse to answer the question. Almost half the Democrats describe them self as conservative. ( question 3-D, which you should google also)

If you like poll watching, the actual numbers are useless. Watch the trend lines. Trend lines show which way the polls MOVE over time. It’s the movement that counts, not who is ahead by how much today.
Ohhhhh….BAMA had been falling in his trend line. Until the Convention, when the slid was halted, only to start sliding again after the Republican convention. Since the Democratic party manufactured this economic crisis, the trend line for Ohhhhh,,,,BAMA has started to climb.
That is because the MSM is trying like ‘ell to pin the blame on Bush. They facts are that Dodd and Franks are the ones most responsible for the economic crisis, with Rains and Johnson helping a lot. (? Not sure about that last. There are so many crooks involved in this scam that I have trouble keeping track of them. the man I’m referring two was the high lvel Obama Campiagn official who resigned a few months ago). Now we will see if the MSM can hold the line and deliver the election.
I sort of doubt it. This is a Pulitzer Prize story, somebody will want it so bad they will rat out their brothers and/or sisters.
It is after all, the biggest robbery in the history of the world at 250 BILLION. the OIL-for-fraud scam of Saddam was just over 100 Billion, so this beats it by a ways. Plus, this is just the first of many.
Since Congress has decided to give away the taxpayers money, the line of crooks wanting some will stretch from Washington D.C. to Ft. Knox.
Eventually, the voters will figure it out, they always do.

Here;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(statistics)

Wikipedia is more current then I am, since it has been 4+ decades since I took my courses and things DO change.
Sampling comes in many flavors.

“Statistics: The only science that enables different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions.”
Evan Esar, Esar’s Comic Dictionary
American Humorist (1899 – 1995)

Most of you seem to have no clue about sampling bias and simple random sampling. Your sample wouldn’t be random if you picked your subpopulations a priori.

As a result all polls adjust results after the fact by correcting for sampling bias.

If you wanted to point your fingers at one poll and yell “cheat” I could buy it…but other polls are repeating the same result with some variance in just how bad it is for your boy McCain.

Obama has threatened a Chicago radio station (WGN) to keep certain people from being guests.

Obama has used lawyers in previous elections to take out opposing contenders.