Letters to the Editor
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exit polls
why -- especially given the fact that even in ideal circumstances exit polls are uneven -- would anyone suppose that people would answer these questions honestly?
First of all, if I were a Republican voting in the Democratic election in order to sow "chaos", I might give wrong answers to have the questions. Wouldn't that be better? If you wanted to undermine Obama's candidacy, wouldn't it be better to say "I'm a Hillary supporting Democrat and I'm going to vote for McCain in Novemeber."? These are, after all, people who are voting maliciously and in bad faith in the first place, no?
Secondly, people often can't be honest with themselves, much less with pollsters. How many people who voted for Obama did so because they just can't stand the thought of a woman as President? Surely some of them. But are they going to tell a pollster that that's the reason? Probably not.
So why are we giving these exit polls any weight when they have no scientific basis even when compared to other polls which are dubious in themselves?