Thanks for the quick response. Honestly, don't you think that this seems like a bad idea? They are "betting" or assuming that these percentages will carry through the rest of the polls? With 85% of votes left, this seems to be a very hard thing to predict. I think it seems like irresponsible reporting. They (mass media) are, after-all, basically the only source of information to the public as far as the results of the presidential election. I would think it unwise to call a state with a margin of <70-75% of the votes in, and even then only if it was a landslide for a particular candidate. Just MHO.
On Nov 4, 9:47 pm, Hollywood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Jay, > > All they are expressing is their opinion based on the returns. They > are betting that the ratio of votes will not change, that if Obama is > getting 55% of the votes and McCain is getting 45% with 15% of the > vote in that the % will remain about that when 100% is in. > > On Nov 4, 9:43 pm, JayMac <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > This maybe a "dumb" question, but how does the media "call" states > > for > > a president when there are only 15% of votes in? I do not understand > > this. Can't think of which state it was, but I saw CNN call the vote > > with a margin of 10,000 votes, each candidate had about 120,000 > > total, > > with only 15% of the votes in. Early in the night I believe that I > > saw a state called with 1% of votes in. Am I missing something here? > > Mathematically this doesn't make any sense to me. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
