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Tuesday, January 04, 2011

KOB to Feature Misleading Straw Poll Results from Rio Grande Foundation

Many of you have probably seen the wholly unscientific and misleading online poll about possible state budget cuts created by the infamous Rio Grande Foundation. It's quite obvious that the poll questions were written in a way to encourage those "voting" in the poll to agree with the RGF's recommendations for dealing with New Mexico's budget shortfall.

It's not surprising that Paul Gessing and the questionable RGF would be doing such a thing, given their transparently right-wing Republican slant and their never-ending quest to garner publicity for their outfit and convince people they are a reputable, fair, nonpartisan "grassroots" organization. They're not, but they keep on trying. Unfortunately, however, many in the mainstream media and beyond apparently have been drinking the Kool-Aid, and are making it a habit to treat Gessing and the RGF as a legitimately fair-minded bunch without an ax to grind.

For instance, tonight KOB-4 News reportedly will be running a story on the RGF poll and interviewing Gessing about the results -- as if their silly online straw poll actually means something in terms of accurately and fairly gauging the opinions of New Mexicans on budget cuts. An by Matthew Reichbach at New Mexico FBIHOP -- a guy who knows his polling stuff inside out -- explains exactly why this is a farce. Must read.

Any bets on when KOB will interview someone knowledgeable about polling to comment on the claims of Gessing about the accuracy and importance of his online poll trickery?

January 4, 2011 at 02:43 PM in Economy, Populism, NM Legislature 2011, Polling, Right Wing | Permalink

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