Poll Fight!
I'm layin' this track down for my main Poll Smoker, CA:
Seems there's a dust-up bewteen 538 and Real Clear Politics. It began with:
I can promise you is that we'll keep the spin separate from our metrics. The spin is a side dish, which you can choose to consume or ignore.
Unfortunately, that is not a choice you have at RCP. Their partisan leaning is infused into their numbers. If RCP disclosed their methodology -- articulated their rationale for excluding or including certain polls -- I would give them the benefit of the doubt. But they do not, so I do not.
And progressed to:
It is clear to me that there is substantial subjectivity in how RCP selects the polls to include in its averages. RCP does not publish an FAQ, or any other set of standards. Nor, in my conversation with John, was he willing to articulate one. In my view, the fact that RCP does not disclose a set of standards means ipso facto that they are making judgment calls -- that there is some subjectivity involved -- in how their polls are selected.
All I can say to Real Clear Politics is you been served! Yo, man, that's the last time I cite your poll averages, beyotch.
-edit-
I am an idiot. If I had been thinking at all, I would have included a poll. I mean, come on, it's a post about polls, how can I not include one?
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