This is just a quick diary to blow off a little steam. I hate Real Clear Politics. I hate that they present themselves as objective, yet they manipulate data to create a narrative that benefits Republicans. You can see this in their presentation of COVID-19 data, which keeps New York at the top of their list, though other states (historical red states) have had far worse rates of new infection for months.
You can also see it in their presentation of 2020 election polls, comparing polls to 2016 in which there was a systemic polling error toward Clinton, and including a ton of garbage right-wing pollsters.
Take for example their final numbers on Pennsylvania:
Biden +1.2, which is less than Clinton was ahead. OoooOOOoooOOoh. Scary, right? But notice Trafalgar and Insider Advantage — polls with a notorious Republican lean. But where is the last Sienna/NYT polls? Where is the last ABC news poll? The obvious comparison here is with 538.com, a site which really does maintain objective numbers:
Much less scary. Real Clear Politics is the FOX NEWS of internet poll aggregation. They are helping to create a narrative that will facilitate extra-constitutional methods of taking power. (By which I mean Trump’s absolutist bullshit about declaring victory.)
And yet, this site is regularly cited as a source for polling averages by major media outlets.
Ugh.
Okay: just a little venting here. We’re going to win today, and take out the orange-headed trash.