Trolling For Illegitimacy With Congressman Conyers

Congressman John Conyers

Congressman John Conyers has asked that the raw data from exit polls, conducted by the National Election Pool, be turned over to the House Judiciary Committee so they can study the discrepancy between the polls and the outcome of the election. Data from exit polls released early in the day of the election showed John Kerry leading by 3 percentage points in key states like Ohio and Florida.

In a letter to Warren Mitofsky of Mitofsky International, who handled the exit polling for news organizations, Conyers said the exit poll information could help determine whether there is evidence "of voting irregularities that occurred as a result of poor election practices and intentional voter disenfranchisement."

Really Congressman? Polling data will help you determine that? Are you aware that most polls depending on the sample size have a margin of error of at least 3%? We don't elect people based on polls, you see polls are conducted by news organizations to help them predict the results of an actual election. When it come to polls the larger the sample size the more precise the poll becomes. It just so happens that the sample size of the actual votes is just a little bit larger than that of the exit polls. Even if there were some discrepancies in how the vote was tabulated the sample size of actual votes cast correctly would be much more accurate than the exit polling of a few thousand voters.

Perhaps the congressman should study Statistics 101 and then include that in the help with homework section of his website.

It is patently absurd that data released in the middle of the day, before most working people even have a chance to vote, should be used as political fuel for the congressman's efforts to make illegitimate the election of President Bush.

The congressman is fishing, and the Institute is not biting.