Polls have come to dominate the media's horse race coverage of political campaigns. Pundits and reporters constantly use them to tell us who's hot and who's not -- but skip over the fact that plummeting response rates and variables like undecided voters and margins of error often render these polls useless as anything other than lightweight diversions on par with horoscopes and political betting lines. Below you'll find a slew of polling, astrological, and betting information that will hopefully help the polling junkies in the media keep polls in the proper perspective.
We've also updated HuffPollstrology to bring you regular takes from astrologers on the state of the presidential race. And we've included a section that digs deeper into how polls are conducted. And to make sure we're really investigating, we're going to add various blogs and articles that cast a skeptical eye on polling. Read on for lots of HuffPollstrology:
ASTROLOGER PHILIP SEDGWICK LOOKS AT THE CANDIDATES - **NEW POST 10/6**:
Back to the presidential candidates we are. Today marks the middle of the communication mangling Mercury retrograde. This day observes an alignment of the Earth-Sun-Mercury in which if one is pushing an agenda, it might just slip through the cracks and get right where one wants it to be. With the second debate tomorrow, let's take a look at how the candidates fare. First a shared general notation: This debate occurs with the Moon in Capricorn. This placement is methodical, plodding, calculating, historical in nature, heavy on facts and figures and lacks a sense of humor. If neither candidate adds fire, expect viewers to fall off (or asleep) in the first forty-five minutes.
McCain
McCain enters this debate in a short term trigger, stress free zone. Venus recently passed through a rough angle to his edgy Mars. During this time he was testy with the press, sarcastic and came off sounding like the Penguin in Batman as he gloated over Sarah's debate performance. That edge is gone. Even a renegade has enough sense to respond to debate coaches. During the debate, the self-proclaimed maverick is favored by the Capricorn Moon, though he appears more conservative than his maverick brand desires. Since Capricorn rules archives and legacies, his voting record on women's rights, the economy, social and environmental issues hurt him. McCain enjoys a very, very short period where it appears that damage control contained recent flooding. Don't get comfy. Saturn is now virtually on top of his Neptune. It's unlikely his debate statements pass fact check sniff tests. Safety tip: Resist the urge to go negative. Negative ads badly bite his butt within two weeks.
Obama
Mars, male stuff, now in Scorpio favors Obama's Venus, female/economic stuff. His polling generally improves with woman, and his presence in the debate regarding the economy and women's rights works fantastically. With the Moon of the debate camping out on his Saturn, he must avoid boring viewers or appearing too smart. You might know your stuff and have facts, but I was hoping for a good show - or at least a fight. I got spoiled last week by the perky candidate. At least give me a wink and a nod so I feel comfortable. The risk for Obama is being too solid, strategic and Presidential. His best drama comes from moments in which he challenges McCain's values and Palin's presence, declaring nonsense as nonsense. Smoothly throttled, dedicated passion dedicated to myth busting is the ticket.
Likely this debate does not do much to change ongoing polling trends. Without fire, the debate is a draw on chart paper. Little changes until later in the week, when global tensions recapture our focus, which has unfortunately slipped.
HuffPost is delving into the gray area of how polls are conducted. Below is an analysis of how pollsters come up with the numbers through response rates. The definition of a response rate is taken from Arianna's 1998 column "Investigating The Pollsters."
The key to polling's accuracy is the principle of "equal probability of selection." But if larger and larger numbers among those randomly selected refuse to participate, this principle no longer applies.
We asked polling companies to please give us the response and refusal rates for their polls listed below.
Results: McCain 45%, Obama 47%
Method: 1,220 likely voters
"Can you please give us the response and refusal rates for your most recent national poll?": A Zogby representative told us, "26.6 response rate phone, 73.4 refusal rate phone."
Results: McCain 44%, Obama 48%
Method: 2,873 likely voters polled using an online panel.
"Can you please give us the response and refusal rates for your most recent national poll?": A Zogby representative told us, "6.1% of those who received an invitation completed the survey."
Results: McCain 41%, Obama 51%
Method: 1,100 likely voters polled over three days.
"Can you please give us the response and refusal rates for your most recent national poll?": A Research 2000 representative explained the methodology of the poll, saying that it was a rolling poll with a baseline of 1,100 likely voters, taking approximately 355 to 365 calls per night and throwing out the oldest numbers. "I would say that [we take] one in every eight calls on average," he said, attributing this rate to a combination of callers "telling us to go to hell" and callers not meeting their standard of a "likely voter" through a name recognition test.
Results: McCain 41%, Obama 52%
Method: 2,747 registered voters polled over three days.
"Can you please give us the response and refusal rates for your most recent national poll?": 14% response rate, 26% refusal rate. This is an average rate for this particular series of polls, technically defined as the CASRO rate which is similar to the AAPOR-III response rate (these definitions can be found here).
Results: Obama 51%, McCain 45%
Method: Sample of 3,000 likely voters over three days.
"Can you please give us the response and refusal rates for your most recent national poll?": A representative for Rasmussen told us, "We don't give out that information".
Results: Obama 49%, McCain 45%
Method: Sample of 800 likely voters.
"Will it be possible for us to get the response and refusal rates for your most recent national poll?": After a few calls, a representative for Tarrance told us, "It's not going to be. Write what you need to write, but it's not going to be. We're four weeks out from a campaign and quite frankly this is not anywhere near my priority list. Okay?"
mccain
A valuation could have your undivided attention. You might also be unusually interested in insurance and renovation costs. Time for shopping could pose something of a difficulty - leading you to purchase by mail order. At work, you may be caused keep a secret or could unwittingly learn of plans for great changes next week. It might not be easy to sit on this information even for a few days - especially when quizzed by someone.
chance of
winning
obama
It might bother you that someone is clearly living beyond their means. You may have real anxiety about housing costs too. Contact with a large organisation whose aim is to protect vulnerable people seems likely. Issues about local transport could affect you too - or you could develop an interesting relationship with someone interested in bicycles. Indeed, it's just possible that you'll give greater thought to this mode of transport.
chance of
winning
Partly cloudy. High 68F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
Nashville, TN
Cloudy with rain likely. A thundershower is possible as well, especially in the morning. High 71F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall may reach one inch.
Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 59F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.
Seattle, WA
Partly to mostly cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 52F. Winds light and variable.
Sources:
General Election Poll: Rasmussen Daily Tracking
Like all polling firms, Rasmussen Reports weights its data to reflect the population at large. Among other targets, Rasmussen Reports weights data by political party affiliation using a dynamic weighting process. Our baseline targets are established based upon survey interviews with a sample of adults nationwide completed during the preceding three months (a total of 45,000 interviews). For the month of August, the targets are 40.6% Democrat, 31.6% Republican, and 27.8% unaffiliated. For July, the targets were 41.4% Democrat, 31.5% Republican, and 27.1% unaffiliated (see party trends and analysis).
Horoscopes: horoscopes.co.uk
Weather: Weather.com
Betting Lines: Intrade Prediction Markets