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The general election and the economy
If a down economy spells doom for the incumbent party, why is McCain doing so well in national polls? Paul Krugman has a possible explanation.
Andrew Leonard [2008-05-07]

  • 1952 election

    In 1952 the pre-election polling indicated a close race. CBS News had something new, a UNIVAC computer. Using the usual exit poll information the computer predicted an Eisenhower land slide. CBS (including Walter Cronkite) did not believe this so they did not use it. As the evening wore on, it became apparent that the computer result was correct. On the air, they had to admit that they had the result hours before.

    The computer result was less than one percent off of the actual result.

    On the air, last night it was fun watching CNN's computerized show. That turned out to be a replay of the 1916 (and 1948) election when the delayed results caused newspapers to print bad results.

    So what did happen in Lake County, Indiana ?

    -- BlueAmberol
    [Read BlueAmberol's other letters]
    Wednesday, May 7, 2008 05:06 PM
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