As the elections approach, I’m reading a lot about the polls predicting Republican gains. I may be delusional, but I just can’t believe this many people are planning to vote Republican after the mess of the Bush years, the GOP positions out of alignment with mainstream values (privatize Social Security) and what happened the last time the Republicans controlled the House.
So, I started wondering about the polling. The last couple of elections have shown some surprises that were not reflected in the pre-election polls.
Most Republican voters are older and white. Most, or many, Democratic voters are younger, more tech savvy, better educated and/or non-white.
Most polling depends on making telephone contact. The Democratic voter base is less likely to have land lines. There is no national directory of cell phone numbers as Verizon, T-Mobile and other large carriers don’t release their numbers.
How are the pollsters contacting the Democratic base? It’s much easier t0 find the number for older Republican voters, but how do they get contact information for Dems? Not to mention Caller ID….
So, I’m wondering- and hoping- there may be some more surprises this year due to pollsters not being able to reach the Democratic voters to poll them.
We’ll know in a few weeks if the flaw is with the pollsters or the judgment of the Electorate…
Lost in the 21st Century 
I, so, hope you are right. Times are a lot more scary now than in 2008!!!!!
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Hope you’re right. I’ve been informing some of my Republican friends who are on unemployment that they can kiss their benefits goodby if Republicans retake the House and Senate. The first thing they’ll do is stop the extensions of benefits.
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