AOL straw poll hacked?!

[ramblin_dave]

The AOL straw poll frequently mentioned here seems to have been hacked...

http://www.electionguide04.com/straw_poll.adp

At the end of July there was a total of 149,000 total votes cast and a solid lead for Kerry. Now just 5 days later there are 333,000 votes with a total reversal of electoral votes favoring Bush.

[bluestateguy]

1. That's either hacking, or Freeping on steroids

And of course they keep most of the traditional blue states blue so as to make the poll look "believable".

[Syncronaut Seven]

3. Nah, they just concentrated

on the states easiest to flip. It looks very systematic.

[Renew Deal]

5. You can create up to 7 accounts and vote with each one.

Then delete 6 of them and start over.

[KharmaTrain]

11. You Don't Even Need To Do That...

They don't put a cookie in your machine if you vote as a member. You can vote til you drop.

A couple years ago, I knew some people who would "macro" those polls...one person voting 14,000 times...overnight, while he slept.

[Ediacara]

2. Yes, clearly hacked or freeped

It's an electoral vote change of over 100 from just yesterday. Yesterday's map looked pretty standard, very close to what's seen on electoral-vote.com.

[SoCalDem]

4. They use a method of "autovoting" that can vote hundreds of times

unless the site takes precautions.. Most do not,,.

[KharmaTrain]

6. AOL Has Freeper Boards

Just as bad or worse than Reek Republic, so I'm not surprised the poll has been "altered".

What's it matter anyway?

[arwalden]

7. It Would Only Matter If It Discouraged Dems Who Felt That...

Kerry was "hopelessly" behind and if it made them feel that their vote wouldn't matter anyway... so they choose to stay home and not vote.

But on the other hand... it could also make the Bush* supporters feel over-confident and that since the election was "safely" about to be handed to their guy again... they might choose to stay home and not vote either.

-- Allen

[KharmaTrain]

8. You Really Believe That???

Besides the fact that it's an online poll and anyone with time to blow and a macro program can play with that thing all day long...especially on AOL.

By now, if someone who saw this "poll" and became disenchanted enough to vote for Kerry wasn't going to vote for him in the first place.

I'd believe more your second premise...that it could make a Bushbot feel overconfident...and that's fine with me. But I even doubt that at this point.

What I'm seeing "on the ground" here is a lot of frustrated, disenchanted Repugnicans who are thinking about sitting this election out...an online poll can't change that.

It's fun to DU a poll now and then just to waste some time, but other than that, I'd troll the AOL message boards there and see some of the bile that's put up. If you're looking for some action, you'll find plenty of it there.

[arwalden]

9. LOL... I Remember The Venom There In 2000

I'm not going back to that unfettered abuse. I canceled my AOL account in 2001 and I haven't missed it AT ALL. ---

You're correct... AOL does seem to be the gathering place for antisocial malcontents.

-- Allen

[KharmaTrain]

10. We Probably Fought The Good Fight There...

That's where I thought I could engage "flying monkeys"...and debunk all the crap during the '96 and 2000 elections. Foolish me.

I still go over and read 'em. Same old people now fighting among themselves as to whose the biggest hivedweller. LOL

Right now I enjoy reading the dellusional kool-aid drinkers who don't realize how the mood of the country has changed in recent months. No finer group of people deserve to be rolled over by the Kharma train.

Cheers!