Those Crazy Exit Polls

I'm not at all surprised to see the findings of the investigation into the 2004 exit polls, which arrives at the same conclusion I did back on November 3--Kerry supporters over-participated. It makes perfect sense in a survey that's voluntary (53% of those asked participated in the 2004 exit polls). If one pool of voters are more passionate about their choice, they're likely to be overrepresented in the poll. Such was the case with the 2004 exits where the folks who were outraged about the state of the country were far more pumped on election day than those who felt that things were a bit lousy but that we were still more or less on the right course. One article notes that exit polls have inflated the numbers of the Democratic candidate in every election since 1988. You'd think they'd have tweaked the system by now...