There is a concerted effort to report republican leaning polls and promote a horse race mentality in Real Clear Politics and the media. I'll show more beyond the fold, but this is pretty obvious and potentially dangerous to democracy - its the media equivalent of push polling. The horse-race mentality of the media, combined with people using Real Clear Politics, and twitter to post republican leaning polls, is common now. Sometimes its dramatic, with CNN spinning an Obama debate win into a Romney win, when Obama won outside of the margin of error and its own focus group. CNN that night even refused to acknowledge the existence of other polls. Sometimes its subtle, with organizations like RCP posting republican leaning polls quickly but sometimes skipping out on dem leaning polls entirely.
So right now, there are several polls in existence that you will not find reported in the media, and Real Clear Politics, a commonly used and relied on pollster roundup source.
Go to the website right now...
Here is what you will see:
So what polls are missing?
Here are the following polls that are being listed by other websites, like Nate Silver, with good methodology, but not by RCP. RCP is going to host Rasmussen and Gravis polls all the time, keep that in mind.
Survey USA Ohio
http://www2.ohio-votes.com/...
Obama +3 in this poll. Currently RCP has Obama listed as +1.9 without this poll. This poll would pull up their polling average and they would have to put a blue arrow by Obama in Ohio, something that Republicans do NOT want in their narrative.
Update: They posted this one a day late along with a Rasmussen poll showing it tied, so now we know what they were waiting on. It is still troubling that none of the others have been posted, including the PPP Virginia poll, which is 3 days old now. Do they just wait for a republican poll to come out so they can post it together with a Dem poll?
Mellman Florida
http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/...
Obama tied in Florida in this poll, but with great internals. Obama seen favorably and leading among people who have already voted as well as with Independents. RCP has Romney at +1.8 in Florida, this would bring the average down, forcing them to put a red arrow downward for Romney.
Mellman Virginia
http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/...
Obama +1 in Virginia with great internals. Undecideds breaking for Obama. Currently RCP has the race tied in Virginia. Adding +1 to the poll would bump the average up towards Obama.
PPP Virginia
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/...
Obama +2. This is particularly troubling because RCP uses PPP polls in their polling lists, but does not list this poll at all. Yet, this poll shows Obama ahead in Virginia and would have to show Obama with a blue arrow upwards in Virginia.
PPP Iowa
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/...
PPP released two polls in Iowa. One poll showed a Romney +1 lead, the other showed an Obama +1 lead. They were posted on the same day. Can you guess which RCP used?
Grove North Carolina
http://projects.newsobserver.com/...
Obama +3. Not listed at all on RCP, Nate Silver uses it though.
As you can clearly see, the situation on the ground is not bad at all. If you all were aware of these polls showing Obama ahead, and if people in general were aware, they likely wouldn't feel demoralized. Obama is competitive and is likely to carry several battleground states. RCP, one of the most popular polling aggregates, is willfully excluding polls showing a democratic lean. This is done to demoralize us. Do not fall for this.
My suggestion - Stop relying on polling aggregate sites like RCP for your polling info. RCP is a republican shill site that has become popular this year but may be demoralizing to Democrats because of willful misinformation.
Edit 9/24/12 8:13 AM central: Thanks for the recs guys. Now spread this around to any Dems that you know that poll-watch. RCP cannot be used or trusted.
6:23 AM PT: 10/24/12 8:20 AM Central: Finding other polls that they are not using, like the slew of national trackers that have Obama up ticking. If anyone has any poll they would like to add to this list in any swing state, let me know. Finding these omissions only took me 5-10 minutes.
He's added SUSA for Ohio (along with today's Rasmussen tied poll, so that effectively cancels out the Obama getting this blue arrow, imagine that.) He still has yet to add the PPP +1 in Iowa poll for Obama, and the PPP poll +2 in Virginia. This is the most glaring omission, where the hell is this poll in his Virginia polling list?
6:39 AM PT: Where is UPI? UPI poll released today shows Obama ahead nationally, as well as a bounce. Yet he was quick to release the Rasmussen poll with Romney +4.
O+2
http://www.upi.com/...
7:14 AM PT: In case you don't believe me, this morning, "Morning Joe" had an entire segment devoted to battleground states as seen by Real Clear Politics: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...