I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The amount of cell phone-only households is affecting the polls in electoral contests, a study released by the Pew Research Center suggests.
“In three of four election polls conducted since the spring of this year, estimates from the landline samples alone produced slightly more support for Republican candidates and less support for Democratic candidates, resulting in differences of four to six points in the margin,” Pew reported. “One poll showed no difference between the landline and combined samples.”
Pew says that the effect is even more pronounced when it looked at likely voters.
In that case, the poll without cell phones showed that 50 percent supported a generic Republican candidate while 43 percent supported a generic Democratic candidate. The same poll including cell phones is 47 percent to 44 percent in support of the Democrat.
This suggest that polling firms who do not include cell phone-only households could be understating support for a Democratic candidate.
Auto-dial pollsters like Rasmussen Reports, SurveyUSA and Public Policy Polling use this technology to keep down costs. This is why these pollsters poll more often than those who use live phone calls.
