"Don't Let the Polls Affect Your Vote. They were wrong in 2000 and 2004." Wall St. Journal Opinion

Polls can reveal underlying or emerging trends and help campaigns decide where to focus.

The danger is that commentators use them to declare a race over before the votes are in. This can demoralize the underdog's supporters, depressing turnout.

Some polls are sponsored by reputable news organizations, others by publicity-eager universities or polling firms on the make. None have the scientific precision we imagine.

Polls have proliferated this year in part because it is much easier for journalists to devote the limited space in their papers or on TV to the horse-race aspect of the election rather than its substance.


The last national poll that showed Mr. McCain ahead came out Sept. 25 and the 232 polls since then have all shown Mr. Obama leading. Only one time in the past 14 presidential elections has a candidate won the popular vote and the Electoral College after trailing in the Gallup Poll the week before the election: Ronald Reagan in 1980. Read full article

Media-bias on Muslim terror vs Jews persists; evidenced in 'Palestinian Rampage through Jerusalem in Bulldozer' story; killing 3, injuring 66

More than 60 innocent people in the Jewish state of Israel's capital of Jerusalem were injured, and 3 people were killed by a Muslim driving a bulldozer on a deadly rampage against Israelis. Here are eyewitness photos (courtesy of Augean Stables' Prof. Richard Landes' daughter, Noa, in Jerusalem, courtesy of Little Green Footballs).

Here's The Jerusalem Post's perspective on the story:

Three people were killed and 66 were wounded - one moderately and the rest lightly - on Wednesday afternoon when a bulldozer driver went on a rampage in downtown Jerusalem.

A half-dozen cars were flattened and others were overturned by the Caterpillar vehicle. A bus was also overturned, and another bus was heavily damaged. The attack, at the junction of Jaffa Road and Sarei Yisrael St., set off a panic in the area and left a large swath of damage in the heart of the capital. Traffic was halted, and hundreds of people fled through the streets in panic as medics treated the wounded. A car was dragged several meters by the bulldozer before being crushed under the vehicle. A baby was pulled out by a passerby before the vehicle was crushed, with the child's mother still inside.

Finally, an off-duty soldier took a gun from a security guard at the scene and shot the terrorist, who cried "Allah Akhbar" (God is great) before being killed. The soldier was assisted in neutralizing the attacker by Eli Mizrahi, a member of police's elite Yasam anti-terror unit.

Police said the incident was definitely a terror attack, but stressed that they had no specific warning. Three terrorist groups claimed responsibility for the attack, including the Al Aksa Martyrs' Brigade, which is affiliated with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement. The other two were the Galilee Freedom Battalion, which is suspected of being affiliated with Hizbullah, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a fringe left-wing terror group.

How was it reported by media which you saw/read?

• What was the reporter's 'spin' on the story? "Disgruntled employee goes beserk?" Where was the story directed (or omitted)- at the bulldozer, the victims, the event, the identities?
• Who was the culprit: Palestinian? Arab? Muslim?
• Was the possible motive addressed? Was it racism? Religious hatred? Seeking to kill Jews towards achieving martyrdom?
• Was act called 'terror' or 'terrorism'? Why? Why not?

Please comment with reference to the media you saw - on new site, ResponsiblePress.