How Obama got elected

Posted by Helen on: 12.04.2008 /

I ran across the site How Obama got elected recently.

What do you think? Did Obama get elected simply because of the selective way the media presented information about the respective Presidential candidates? How does this website do on fairly presenting information?

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5 Responses to "How Obama got elected"

  • Comment by: Duh-sciple

    1 12/4/08 5:18 PM | Comment Link |

    No, Obama did not get elected because the media was selective. There are now multiple media perspectives.

    I’ll get back to you on the website.

    Duh-sciple

  • Comment by: Duh-sciple

    2 12/4/08 5:25 PM | Comment Link |

    My review of the website

    Okay, they found some clueless voters (= didn’t know some current, obvious, basic political facts) who voted for Obama

    That cuts both ways… one can easily find clueless votes who voted for McCain (= don’t know basic political facts about the role of the vice president)

    I’m praying for more mature, grounded political discourse than appears on the reviewed website.

    Duh-sciple

  • Comment by: Helen

    3 12/4/08 9:17 PM | Comment Link |

    Thanks for your comments Duh-sciple. My first thought was, there are probably some not very knowledgeable McCain voters out there too :)

    I think it’s good to care about whether the media fairly represents facts about each candidate but the amount of spin I sense in the survey questions on that site leaves me unconvinced that it’s authors know what a fair representation of the facts is.

  • Comment by: Eliza

    4 12/5/08 1:17 PM | Comment Link |

    Obama got elected because:

    (1) the economy tanked (& McCain looked clueless and scared, while Obama was more inscrutable & looked calm and steady), and

    (2) Palin scared moderate & independent voters as a poor choice for VP.

    Check out September vs. October on this graph of polls.

    IMO the website linked in the opening post presents a skewed viewpoint.

  • Comment by: David H

    5 12/5/08 6:13 PM | Comment Link |

    Having spent lots of time dealing with polls and pollsters, they key issue with the poll in question is that those involved began with a goal of demonstrating that Obama voters weren’t aware. They used questions and respondents that proved their preconceived notion.

    True opinion polling doesn’t come to conclusions until after the data is collected.