Election Post #4

For my fourth Election post I went to http://www.gallup.com/ and http://www.electionprojection.com/president08.shtml to look at their polls on the 2008 Presidential Election. The poll results on the Gallup for the Presidential nominees has Obama at 52% and McCain at 41% as of a couple days ago. From the current data, Obama has a lead of 11% over McCain. Also for the "Likely Voters (expanded), and the "Likely Voters (traditional), Obama has gained a point, as McCain lost a point in the polls. To compare results with another poll, http://www.electionprojection.com/ has Obama currently at 52.52% compared to McCain who is currently at 45.48% popular vote. I had trouble finding Jim Gilmore and Mark Warner on the Gallup website but I found their number on the Election-projection website. The results had Warner leading with a score of 57% to Gilmore who has 33% popular vote.

Polling is important in modern U.S. elections because they keep the public notified on the current issues, whether it is the Political Election, to what is the most liked car. Most polls are taken every couple days so their information is up-to-date. Polls usually have an impact on campaigns because once the public sees the outcome either the viewers will become more concerned with the results and feel secure, or they might feel like they need to put more effort into the campaign for the result that they would like. Sometimes polls do help the election depending on the percentages, some people might feel like they need to volunteer/participate for their political party more to help their campaign nominee.

Polls are not always correct in gauging the public opinion. I say this because there might be fluctuation points that could be a little higher or lower than the polls states. The fluctuation can throw off the public views on the election saying one will win over the other, when there is no guarantee until the election occurs. 15 days left until voting for the next President!!!