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South Dakota

2006 CANDIDATES
Jack Billion
Mike Rounds
Tom Gerber
Steven J. Willis

ROLLING 5-POLL AVERAGE 4
DATE 1 MOE 2 S 3
JUL 26 65.9 31.8 2.4 +/- 3.5 800

INDIVIDUAL POLLS 4
DATE 1 POLLSTER MOE 2 S 3
JUL 26 MASON DIXON 65.9 31.8 2.4 +/- 3.5 800

NOTES
1 Date is the last day that the poll was taken. Often polls are embargoed for several days until their release date.
2 Margin of Error. MOE is related to sample size, 0.98 divided by the square root of the sample size at 95% confidence (19 times out of 20). For example, a sample of 1000 people has a MOE of +/- 3.1% and a sample of 2000 people has a MOE of +/- 2.2%. For rolling averages, the samples are assumed to be independent, thus sample sizes are aggregated to produce an overall MOE. In practice, some polling firms use lists with repeat calls; in these case, it is more precise to reduct these repeat calls from the overall sample size, thus the actual margin of error might be slightly higher. Example: 5 surveys of 1000 people would normally produce a MOE of +/- 1.4%, if samples were independent. If 25% of calls were repeat calls, however, a more accurate MOE would be based on 4000, not 5000, people, producing a MOE of +/- 1.5%.
3 Sample size.
4 Poll numbers exclude undecided voters (and in some cases include estimated for Others), thus are pro-rated to 100%. For example, if the raw poll data shows the Republican candidate with 47%, the Democratic candidate with 41%, Others with 2% and there were 10% undecided, the results excluding undecideds are: Republican 47/90 = 52.2, Democrat 41/90 = 45.6, Others 2/90 = 2.2.

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2 Comments/commentaires
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These polls are unscientific in that they do not provide all choices, and are done by telephone.

For example, all polls so far taken in SD ask only whether voters prefer the D or R candidates. That is like asking people if they prefer mud or sludge, and not asking them if they might also prefer loam or clay. Thus, true preferences are not stated among the FOUR CHOICES.

Many years ago telephone polls ran aground, because they excluded significant demographic groups. Similar conditions now exist, because many people do not use landlines and many do not answer polls made by telephone.

Better to have no poll than a badly constructed and run poll.

Comment/commentaire by Tom Gerber 10.30.06 @ 3:58 pm

Tom — I agree that much of the polling is poorly done. They typically only ask between Democrat and Republican (in fairness not all pollsters do this, Survey USA, to name one, typically asks about all candidates). South Dakota is particularly problematic because everyone has a pre-conceived idea of who will win. It’s unfortunate, demonstrating the degree to which the money game influences strategy (for the parties and the pollsters!).

Comment/commentaire by democraticspace 10.30.06 @ 6:19 pm



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