More comments from The Free Republic. I don't know what it is in me that enjoys reading this stuff, maybe it's that old adage it's hard to look away from a train wreck in progress?
One thing I can say for them though - they are amazingly good at ignoring reality. They are the epitome of the ostrich with its head in the sand.
There have been like 40 polls that have come out in the past 48 hours (99% with Obama in the lead) and the only one they ever ever ever look at is Rasmussen.
So the past couple days Rasmussen has suddenly come in line with all the other polls after showing Romney ahead - go figure. At it's worst they had Romney above 50% and Obama at 46%.
Now they are dead even and here - for your enjoyment are the freakouts as the people at free republic do enough flips, turns, squrming and just plain voodoo magic to make sense of why Mittens MUST still be winning:
"I sent the following to Rasmussen from their site:
Dear Sir/Madam,
Several days ago a message appeared on your site saying the daily tracking would continue despite the storm which has had a devastating effect on the tri-State area. The reasoning you gave was the calls being made were coming from areas outside those which were devastated by the storm.
It is my opinion the place from which the calls are made is of little consequence but where they are made TO is what is most important. With power lost to about 10 million people and cell service down across the region (I live in NJ) your polling should have been suspended as was that of Gallup and IBD/TIPP. There is no way a representative number said to comprise the opinion of a nation can be accurate when such a huge number of people are either unavailable or not disposed to answer a pollster coherently in the midst of a tragedy.
Gallup has resumed their polling but with the explanation the results will be carefully screened to determine accuracy possibly influenced by the storm. They seem to be saying they may not even report the results on Monday the 5th of November or if they do it will be with a strong caveat.
I would like to see Rasmussen (suspend or qualify the results) do the same because as you know a polling result can have a real affect on turnout and should it be incorrect the result could be harmful to the candidate on the wrong end of the horse race number."
"If The President gained anything from Sandy, I would expect today to reflect the peak effect. I think his micro bounce is fading.
Hopefully.
We can also hope that the obvious actual failure of FEMA gets reported in the press. It is hard to ignore starving people in NJ and NY. If so, the micro-bounce should dissipate rapidly."
"If its a heavily Republican electorate, none of the pollsters saw it coming!
I don’t see any intensity or passion for Obama. This poll is skewed to the Democrats.
I can guarantee its way off! Look at the weekend rallies and tell me who has the drive, the passion and the desire to win!"
"I place no confidence in it. No way is the election tied.
You are discounting Sandy and the Crispy Creme Christie endorsement. It was HEAVILY promoted by the MSM, and CNN showed that Obama earned a 78% - 8% approval of his handling of the crisis - before it even began! "
"We need to start prayer vigils that start election eve and last until 6:30 AM when the polls open on Tues."
"Why on earth would you take a poll with bad data and a flawed turnout model as gospel?
The pollsters are ALL wrong. If this election were really close, we’d be seeing it in a renewed Obama momentum. It simply isn’t there!
Who are you going to believe - lying pollsters like Ras or the ground game?
God gave you a brain - use it!"
"That’s because you place faith in a model with skewed Democratic turnout. As for the news you cite, its probably statistical noise.
It only reinforces my point that ALL of the polls - apart from Gallup - are unreliable."
"All pollsters are hedging their bets. They have lost it!!! Not one of any respected caliber has made a prediction. I would ignore them all and just go out and vote for Romney/Ryan because they are going to win handily!!!"
"These polls should be outlawed.
The MSM use these polls to sway the voters.
In a better world, presidential campaigns should have a spending limit of 1M and no polling data should be released. (think of all the money the MSM would lose if they couldn’t air those ads)"
"You are going to stew in your anger but the media won’t cover it. Christie could redeem himself now (somewhat) by asking Obama very publicly what happened to all the help that was promised"
"The MSM are acting as if Mitt Romney does not exist."
" We've been told how the state polls lag behind the national polls. Well now the state polls are starting to peak and Romney looks great! Perhaps in another week or two Romney's state poll numbers will start to go down to reflect the "lag" but, gosh, the Election is TUESDAY!
Sorry, Barry!
Maybe Obama will win the popular and Romney will win the electoral college. Still, I'm convinced Obama will lose!"
"What bugs me about this poll is that Ras has Barry with a 51% approval rating. Frankly, I find that unbelievable."
"The Daily Job Approval ratings are not going in the right direction
11/3/2012 -8
11/2/2012 -11
10/31/2012 -11
10/31/2012 -11
10/30/2012 -13
10/29/2012 -12
10/28/2012 -12
10/27/2012 -10
10/26/2012 -12
10/25/2012 -12
10/24/2012 -12
10/23/2012 -16
10/22/2012 -16
10/21/2012 -16
10/20/2012 -16 "
Rasmussen tends to be conservative. So tied or ahead for the Republicans should mean a win." (HUH?)
"This makes me nervous. Obama has gotten a bit of a hurrican bounce, and the media is sitting on Libya, sans FOX. I will recall in 2008, Obama was leading in polls, and FReepers insisted we not listen to the polls. This is Rasmussen, not a NY Times poll, so I think we have reason to listen to it. That said, I still believe Romney can and probably will win this thing."
"Gasoline prices bottomed out in the Heartland. Intentionally. Gasoline prices bottomed out in the Heartland. Intentionally."
"And that may be why we have seen the “ tie” technique being used now.
Makes it look like O is coming back, but in reality it provides cover to let the race be determined by election day turnout, and a simple explanation with a Romney/Ryan win that they won based on a more energized base.
It’s all back on the candidates then, and off the pollsters who reasonably should be expected to make a winner projection"
"Not going to happen. Christie was on the radio having a press conference and continued his Obama bootlicking. He is doubling down and doesn’t look like he’ll change his position. He just earned himself a one-term legacy."