Former Gallup Pollster Says The Polls Are Rigged - Obama and Clinton Voted Most Admired 2013

Guerilla Media Network Reports

Submitted By: Susannah Cole – January 02, 2014

It is inconceivable that Americans would choose Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as the most admired man and woman, but according to a recent Gallup Poll they are America’s choice for 2013.

Despite his many failings, Obama topped the annual list for the sixth consecutive year, a typical ranking for a sitting U.S. president, the polling organization said.

Even though his ratings fell drastically last year the percentage of those surveyed still chose him as the most admired man with his approval ratings falling to 16 percent last year, down from 30 percent in 2012.

Even worse, Obama’s job approval rating dropped during a year marked by a botched healthcare roll-out and stalled legislative initiatives at the start of his second term.

Hillary Clinton’s ratings weren’t any better in 2013 and still, the American people admired her by giving her a thumbs up in the polls.

According to Gallup, fifteen percent of Americans surveyed gave the former first lady and U.S. Senator the highest ranking even though her approval ratings were down 21 percent from last year.

Unbelievably, Clinton has been named the most admired woman for the 12th consecutive year her 18th time overall, more than any other woman in the poll’s history.

Read the full article here: http://whtc.com/news/articles/2013/dec/30/americans-rank-barack-obama-hillary-clinton-as-most-admired-poll/

How accurate are these polls?

According to former Gallup pollster David W. Moore, these polls mislead and drive a false public perception. Mr. Moore goes so far as to say Polls even undermine American democracy.

For years, we pollsters have systematically misled the Ameri-
can people about the accuracy of our polls, claiming a degree of
precision in assessing public opinion that is far removed from
reality. We do acknowledge, of course, a “margin of error” asso-
ciated with the size of our samples, that well-known “plus or
minus 3 percentage points” phrase suggesting that our polling
numbers are usually very close to what we would have meas-
ured had we interviewed every living adult in the country. And
just to cover ourselves, we add the not-so-innocuous fine print:
“In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical
difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias
into the findings of public opinion polls.” This phrase would
scare the bejesus out of poll users if they understood what it re-
ally means. In fact, when I included this phrase on a report to
one of Gallup’s bank clients, the astute contact at the bank in-
sisted it be deleted. “It essentially says you can’t trust any of the
numbers, What good is a report like that?”

For many people, public opinion has become whatever the major media polls say it is.
My take is a bit different. I accept the principle that polls can
measure public opinion, but only if they tell the truth about the
public. Unfortunately, they don’t. Instead, media polls give us
distorted readings of the electoral climate, manufacture a false
public consensus on policy issues, and in the process under-mine American
democracy.

 

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