Read the following article from the January 20 2005 USA Today. What types of
nonsampling errors led to incorrect exit polls?
FIRMS REPORT FLAWS THAT THREW OFF EXIT POLLS Kerry backers' willingness,
pollsters' inexperience cited
By Mark Memmott, USA Today
The exit polls of voters on Election Day so overstated Sen. John Kerry's
support that, going back to 1988 they rank as the most inaccurate in a
presidential election, the firms that did the work concede.
One reason the surveys were skewed, they say, was because Kerry's supporters
were more willing to participate than Bush's. Also, the people they hired to
quiz voters were on average too young and too inexperienced and needed more
training.
The exit polls, which are supposed to help the TV networks shape their
coverage on election night, were sharply criticized. Leaks of preliminary data
showed up on the Internet in the early afternoon of Election Day, fueling talk
that Kerry was beating President Bush. After the election, some political
scientists, pollsters and journalists questioned their value.
In a report to the six media companies that paid them to conduct the voter
surveys, pollsters Warren Mitofsky and Joseph Lenski, said Wednesday that "on
average, the results from each precinct overstated the Kerry-Bush difference
by 6.5 (percentage) points. This is the largest (overstatement) we have
observed \(\ldots\). in the last five presidential elections." Lenski said
Wednesday that issuing the report was like "hanging out your dirty underwear.
You hope it's cleaner than people expected." Among the findings:
\(\cdot\) They hired too many relatively young adults to conduct the interviews.
Half of the 1,400 interviewers were younger than \(35 .\) That may explain in
part why Kerry voters were more inclined to participate, since he drew more of
the youth vote than did Bush. But Mitofsky and Lenski also found younger
interviewers were more likely to make mistakes.
\(\cdot\)Early results were skewed by a "programming error" that led to
including too many female voters. Kerry outpolled Bush among women.
\(\cdot\) Some local officials prevented interviewers from getting close to
voters.
For future exit polls, Lenski and Mitofsky recommended hiring more experienced
polltakers and giving them better training, and working with election
officials to ensure access to polling places. Lenski and Mitofsky noted that
none of the media outlets they worked for \(-\mathrm{ABC},\) CBS, CNN, Fox News,
NBC and the Associated Press-made any wrong "calls" on election night.
Representatives of those six are reviewing the report.
Many other news media, including USA Today, also paid to get some of the data.
Explanations 
Textbooks 
Flashcards 
91影视 AI 
Notes 
Study Plans 
Study Sets 
Find a degree 
Magazine 
