Daily Kos Admits Publishing Fraudulent Polls

[cpwill]

Their Statement

We contracted with Research 2000 to conduct polling and to provide us with the results of their surveys. Based on the report of the statisticians, it's clear that we did not get what we paid for. We were defrauded by Research 2000, and while we don't know if some or all of the data was fabricated or manipulated beyond recognition, we know we can't trust it. Meanwhile, Research 2000 has refused to offer any explanation. Early in this process, I asked for and they offered to provide us with their raw data for independent analysis — which could potentially exculpate them. That was two weeks ago, and despite repeated promises to provide us that data, Research 2000 ultimately refused to do so. At one point, they claimed they couldn't deliver them because their computers were down and they had to work out of a Kinkos office. Research 2000 was delivered a copy of the report early Monday morning, and though they quickly responded and promised a full response, once again the authors of the report heard nothing more.



so wait.... if liberal polling agencies are having to deliberately twist the data in order to give liberal groups a picture that they like...

well, i'd say rasmussen all day, baby

 

[Aunt Spiker]

That's funny . . . but meaningless considering that all polls are likely biased and jilted - unless you can view each individual entry and response and investigate the participants and so on - there's always room for error - and room for bull****.

 

[Captain America]

Our Polls can be seen on CNN’S “Inside Politics” and are also mentioned frequently in the National Journal’s “Political Hotline”, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Wall Street Journal. Visit our In the News Page to see some online examples of this.

About Us – Research 2000

Looks like The Daily Kos aren't the only ones buying their non-credible surveys.

 

[roughdraft274]

While the investigation didn't look at all of Research 2000 polling conducted for us, fact is I no longer have any confidence in any of it, and neither should anyone else. I ask that all poll tracking sites remove any Research 2000 polls commissioned by us from their databases. I hereby renounce any post we've written based exclusively on Research 2000 polling.

I want to feel stupid for being defrauded, but fact is Research 2000 had a good reputation in political circles. Among its clients the last two years have been KCCI-TV in Iowa, WCAX-TV in Vermont, WISC-TV in Wisconsin, WKYT-TV in Kentucky, Lee Enterprises, the Concord Monitor, The Florida Times-Union, WSBT-TV/WISH-TV/WANE-TV in Indiana, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Bergen Record, and the Reno Gazette-Journal. In fact, just last week, in an email debate about robo-pollsters, I had a senior editor at a top DC-based political publication tell me that he'd "obviously" trust Research 2000 more than any automated pollsters, such as SurveyUSA. I didn't trust Research 2000 more than I trusted SUSA (given their solid track record), but I did trust them. I got burned, and got burned bad.

It looks like Kos had no idea that there were problems with the polls they were being handed by research 2000. They agreed to someone independently going through the numbers and they found something wrong (though I can't find any details) and it's pretty obvious that they have made that public, renounced all ties to that company and explained themselves.

I also couldn't find anywhere that they were making up numbers to look good for liberals or anything of the sort. Please link where you are getting this idea from...

 

[Middleground]

It looks like Kos had no idea that there were problems with the polls they were being handed by research 2000. They agreed to someone independently going through the numbers and they found something wrong (though I can't find any details) and it's pretty obvious that they have made that public, renounced all ties to that company and explained themselves.

I also couldn't find anywhere that they were making up numbers to look good for liberals or anything of the sort. Please link where you are getting this idea from...

Exactly. By reading the title of this thread, one can easily come to the conclusion that it was Daily KoS that fabricated the numbers themselves. Damn you OP for making me have to defend Daily KoS.

 

[roughdraft274]

Exactly. By reading the title of this thread, one can easily come to the conclusion that it was Daily KoS that fabricated the numbers themselves. Damn you OP for making me have to defend Daily KoS.

I just don't think it's being completely honest.

If we take the OP's view, if Rasmussen was found to be fraudulently making polls, I could accuse CPWill of publishing fraudulent information.

On top of that, I'm not sure how the argument that they are publishing this information would fly. They are posting the information from an independent polling company on their website.

Finally, I'm not sure how the OP goes from this to then acting like Rasmussen is the be all end all of polling companies. Research 2000 was a fairly small pollster imo, and very rarely was ever linked to around here or much anywhere else for that matter. Most people tend to stick with either averages of all the polls from various sites, which seems the best option to me, or to Gallup, Rasmussen, whoever.

 

[pbrauer]

It looks like Kos had no idea that there were problems with the polls they were being handed by research 2000. They agreed to someone independently going through the numbers and they found something wrong (though I can't find any details) and it's pretty obvious that they have made that public, renounced all ties to that company and explained themselves.

I also couldn't find anywhere that they were making up numbers to look good for liberals or anything of the sort. Please link where you are getting this idea from...

Yeah, intentional or not the title of the thread is misleading. Markos says he will sue R2K.

Kos Alleges Top Pollster Provided Bogus Data, Will Sue | TPMMuckraker

 

[the makeout hobo]

Good for him

 

[Magill]

The title of this thread is disingenuous. It makes it look like they knew they were publishing bad polls when clearly they had no idea.

 

[DrunkenAsparagus]

Wait, you mean the Daily Kos is biased?

 

[the makeout hobo]

Wait, you mean the Daily Kos is biased?

What it means is Daily Kos fired a pollster who was fraudulent.

 

[Middleground]

Wait, you mean the Daily Kos is biased?

Yes, but funny enough, their action regarding this story actually shows that they're not. At least in this case.

 

[Zyphlin]

Wow, its nice to be vindicated. I forgot who I was arguing with a while back but I kept showing how every poll was coming out markedly different then the one he was using to back up his argument, which was the Daily Kos's/Research 2000 poll, and he kept trying to claim his was the better one.

 

[Deuce]

This thread should fall under "bias in the OP" forum.

 

[DrunkenAsparagus]

Yes, but funny enough, their action regarding this story actually shows that they're not. At least in this case.

That's like saying that ff a criminal owes up to a crime, they're no longer a criminal.

 

[tacomancer]

That's like saying that ff a criminal owes up to a crime, they're no longer a criminal.

In this case Kos was the victim, not the criminal.

 

[Sir Loin]

You've gotta love all the "slightly liberal" posters lining up to defend poor innocent Daily Kos, one of the most virulently biased and vocal partisan hack operations on the internet. Quick someone post a new anti Fox News thread and give these dear hearts something they can sink their teeth into and recover their usual sense of indignation with!:lamo

 

[Glinda]

Exactly. By reading the title of this thread, one can easily come to the conclusion that it was Daily KoS that fabricated the numbers themselves. Damn you OP for making me have to defend Daily KoS.

Headlines 101:

1. Headlines are almost exclusively written by copy editors, managing editors, or news editors (not reporters). Reporters write the news to inform the public; editors craft the news to sell more papers.

2. Headlines are very often misleading as a way to juice up interest in the facts, which follow in the article itself.

How to write a headline:

News Desk Editor: Headlines aren't a retelling of the article. They're a way to spark interest in the article. We use short, punchy, dramatic headlines. Now, have a look, [pointing at dark clouds gathering in the sky over the ocean] what do you see? Tell me the headline.

Reporter: HORIZON FILLS WITH DARK CLOUDS?

News Desk Editor: IMMINENT STORM THREATENS VILLAGE.

Reporter: But what if no storm comes?

News Desk Editor: VILLAGE SPARED FROM DEADLY STORM.

 

[roughdraft274]

You've gotta love all the "slightly liberal" posters lining up to defend poor innocent Daily Kos, one of the most virulently biased and vocal partisan hack operations on the internet. Quick someone post a new anti Fox News thread and give these dear hearts something they can sink their teeth into and recover their usual sense of indignation with!:lamo

Whether the site is biased or partisan (which it obviously is and I don't think anyone here would argue that it wasn't) doesn't matter. This matter is independent of that altogether.

They purchased polling from a third party, the third party gave them made up crap and lied to them, they found out and quickly issued an apology and explanation to the public.

If you're trying to argue that Kos did something wrong then please point out exactly what it was, cause I and everyone else in this thread couldn't find it. If you were trying to just throw a jab at liberals for no apparent reason without really knowing the details or even caring about integrity and honesty then you earned yourself a sticker. Very good job :thumbs:

 

[Sir Loin]

Whether the site is biased or partisan (which it obviously is and I don't think anyone here would argue that it wasn't) doesn't matter. This matter is independent of that altogether.

They purchased polling from a third party, the third party gave them made up crap and lied to them, they found out and quickly issued an apology and explanation to the public.

If you're trying to argue that Kos did something wrong then please point out exactly what it was, cause I and everyone else in this thread couldn't find it. If you were trying to just throw a jab at liberals for no apparent reason without really knowing the details or even caring about integrity and honesty then you earned yourself a sticker. Very good job :thumbs:

I am saying that more than one of the posters (they and WE know who they are) to this thread have quite the record here at DP. Were this a pollster used by Fox News, or any perceived as "conservative" source, be it news, website, newspaper, radio, you name it, the condemnation and "see I told you so" would be quite thick and plentiful. And there is ample evidence of this all over the "Media Bias" section of DP.

So close, but no cigar.

And..............

I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.:lamo

 

[the makeout hobo]

I am saying that more than one of the posters (they and WE know who they are) to this thread have quite the record here at DP. Were this a pollster used by Fox News, or any perceived as "conservative" source, be it news, website, newspaper, radio, you name it, the condemnation and "see I told you so" would be quite thick and plentiful. And there is ample evidence of this all over the "Media Bias" section of DP.

So close, but no cigar.

And..............

I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.:lamo

I think if this had been redstate or something, the left would have been understanding about it, outside of a few jackasses. Any evidence otherwise, or are you just whining?

 

[Sir Loin]

I think if this had been redstate or something, the left would have been understanding about it, outside of a few jackasses. Any evidence otherwise, or are you just whining?

I was not speaking about redstate or something, as you say. Do try to keep up.

It should be amusing watching certain parties play as if my initial comment were not the case. By all means, have at it...................

My initial comment was:

You've gotta love all the "slightly liberal" posters lining up to defend poor innocent Daily Kos, one of the most virulently biased and vocal partisan hack operations on the internet. Quick someone post a new anti Fox News thread and give these dear hearts something they can sink their teeth into and recover their usual sense of indignation with!

At the end of the day, it was after all just a joke. A well aimed and on point one, but a joke none the less. Like Daily Kos. I can't help but think that the more denials aimed at my joke, the stronger its foundation becomes.

 

[the makeout hobo]

I was not speaking about redstate or something, as you say. Do try to keep up.

It should be amusing watching certain parties play as if my initial comment were not the case. By all means, have at it...................

My initial comment was:


At the end of the day, it was after all just a joke. A well aimed and on point one, but a joke none the less. Like Daily Kos. I can't help but think that the more denials aimed at my joke, the stronger its foundation becomes.

The difference is Daily Kos is a blog and makes no claims to be neutral or evenhanded. That's the point of a blog. I used redstate because I thought it'd be a more appropriate comparison

 

[Andalublue]

I am saying that more than one of the posters (they and WE know who they are) to this thread have quite the record here at DP. Were this a pollster used by Fox News, or any perceived as "conservative" source, be it news, website, newspaper, radio, you name it, the condemnation and "see I told you so" would be quite thick and plentiful. And there is ample evidence of this all over the "Media Bias" section of DP.

You mean, they'd be doing exactly what you're doing here? That would be horribly partisan, wouldn't it?

 

[Sir Loin]

The difference is Daily Kos is a blog and makes no claims to be neutral or evenhanded. That's the point of a blog. I used redstate because I thought it'd be a more appropriate comparison

And indeed they are neither nuetral nor even handed. One could add honest, credible or any other number of adjectives one wishes and the same parties would still be lining up and defending them. And thank you for illustrating my point.:2razz: