All Rights Reserved. Vilified as inaccurate and biased, scientific polling in campaign 2000 displayed surgical precision. Blaming pollsters for distorting voters' perceptions and influencing the outcome flies in the face of common sense.
Polls give a hidden X-ray needed to forecast voter behavior.
While it's tempting to blame failed campaign strategy or pesky third parties, the tossup says a lot more about the schizophrenic nature of the American electorate. Pitting the East and West coasts against the heartland, bucolic America finally got even. Unlike boxing, there's no draw in American politics. Like most competitive sports, there's a victor and a vanquished. While neither candidate possessed a knockout punch, they engaged in a relentless war of attrition.