Important questions

[xenith]

Who are the bigger fools:  the talking heads trying to make predictions with 1.6% of the vote counted, or us for watching them?


Also, why are different stations displaying such markedly different results?

Comments

[webfarmer.livejournal.com]

My mistake on Segretti's first name. It was Donald not Richard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Segretti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater

As I recall, the general thought on early releases of polling results when other polls are open is that it might make people think it's not worth going to the polls if their guy is out of it. Obviously this is not much of a issue in Oz.

This can also significantly impact local races and issues on the ballot as a presidential ballot often has more participation than one of the other elections.

I think there is a tendency to want to vote for a winner vs. making a statement with your vote if given the option. This seems like much less of an issue with preferencial voting compared to what goes on over here.