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Feedback ForumShare your thoughts and comments about NOW's Sarah Palin poll. For background about the poll, visit About The Sarah Palin Poll.Submissions for this question are no longer being accepted. Previously submitted comments appear below. Comments may have been edited for content or space. Poster: Ed Comment: I'm sorry, but I can't see how any intelligent person can think that Sarah Palin is qualified to be Vice President. With today's revelations that she didn't know Africa was a continent and she didn't know the names of other countries in North America makes her even less qualified to be Governor of Alaska even if there are only 650,000 people living thre. The thought of her attempting to make a run in 2012 is apalling. I am glad that the majority was able to cast their vote for Barak Obama. Poster: L. Guzman Comment: I will never send another penny to PBS because it is such a biased organization. It is so obvious you support the left that I will no longer send financial support....When Obama implements his Socialist policies, this country will go down the toilet! Sarah Palin was/is way more qualified to run the country than Obama! Ditto for President Bush. We can blame Obama, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Jimmy Carter and other liberals for the mortgage crisis, not Bush! As for the media suggesting that Sarah Palin is dumb...what about Obama saying he's been to 57 states? That Iran, Cuba and Venezuela aren't serrious threats? This guy scares the Hell out of me! Poster: Larry Comment: An even more relevant poll would be 'Do you think Barack Obama is qualified to be President?' How come you didn't run this poll? Poster: John Comment: How about a poll to see is people think Barack Obama is qualified to be president? Poster: Leland Hayes Comment: You are just like the rest of the media. What about the other VP Biden,and what he has to offer the people, his family and how they got were they are because of their dad. I know you just can't do it because it would not be fear to him. BULL All the people in this country are not lost as some think. Leland Hayes Poster: Barbara Chamberlain Comment: It is interesting to see a poll like this when we have not seen anything about the other three candidates. Are they qualified? In a job interview situation this would not be allowed. One must ask the same questions about each candidate. In Gov. Palin's case, she has been subject to more personal attacks and intense probing than either Obama, Biden, or McCain. It has been a public disgrace to watch this process instead of good, unbiased, investigative journalism. Barbara and Dave Chamberlain Poster: brian foley Comment: Though a controversal poll gets plenty of attention, it also can discredit the poller. The question about Gov Palin implies that poller (NOW) as a source of reliable information is concerned her qualifications. This is not a politically balanced question and therefore biased. Just look at the presidents in our recent history. How many went from successful governor to president? What this country is always asking for is a president that will get things done and focus on helping the people while managing the business of the country. Gov. Palin has made huge accomplishments in this area in Alaska. Alaska's economy is in good shape. As a faithful Christian and family man, I am excited to see McCain / Palin match up. These are both people I look up to, trust, and believe will make this country better. They both have solid track records of accomplishments and dedication. Poster: brian foley Comment: Though a controversal poll gets plenty of attention, it also can discredit the poller. The question about Gov Palin implies that poller (NOW) as a source of reliable information is concerned her qualifications. This is not a politically balanced question and therefore biased. Just look at the presidents in our recent history. How many went from successful governor to president? What this country is always asking for is a president that will get things done and focus on helping the people while managing the business of the country. Gov. Palin has made huge accomplishments in this area in Alaska. Alaska's economy is in good shape. As a faithful Christian and family man, I am excited to see McCain / Palin match up. These are both people I look up to, trust, and believe will make this country better. They both have solid track records of accomplishments and dedication. Poster: Chris Wilke Comment: Dear Editors at PBS Why would a credible news organization like yours let a sensationalist non-scientific poll become part of your reporting? 52 million responses? In sincerely doubt that you have had even 1% of that in unique visitors. We may get double or triple that number to vote in the actual election, but not too much more. I expect this kind of sensationalism from USA today, People magazine or others, but not PBS. This is a new low for your network. The question is valid, but you should leave polling to the experts. Chris Wilke Seattle, WA Poster: Robert Overstreet Comment: Polls are, to say the least, accurate only if the process avoids error! That is almost impossible to regulate, especially over the internet. So...face to face polls are better, but very expensive, and then not foolproof. To me, it's a shame that we cannot get a true picture of what people think about the candidates. The best we can do is speak up in public forums so that our voice is actually heard, rather than just registered! Of course, we can write our representatives in congress who are for what we believe, and trust that their voice may be heard, and effective, in pursuing a right course. Or, if individuals could get together and produce an opinion survey, signed by faithful supporters of a candidate, and have this circulated, that would even be more effective, in my thinking. For what it's worth, thanks for your efforts to get the job done in this critical election period to inform people of how they can participate in expressing their views. Robert Overstreet Poster: Robyn Comment: Define QUALIFIED Poster: don Jones Comment: I find this poll very one sided and misleading. Why pick one person asnd ask if they are qualified. More importantly you should be asking whch person running for president is qualified. By asking for just one VP qualifications it shows your bias and left leaning views. In the future, when asked to make a contribution to my local PBS station, I will find a better use of my money. Poster: ME Comment: In my opinion PBS should not be utilizing it's perosnnel for surveys but continue to offer to the general public the wonderful artists and productions for which it has come to be noted. Poster: Melissa W. Comment: An interesting point was raised: is the mere question inherently biased raising a competency quesiton about a female canddate? It may well be, but the McCain camp opened that door by selecting a candidate LARGELY based on gender! As a woman, I am insulted by the Palin selection because I believe much more should have weighed into such an important decision effecting the leadership of our country. Sarah Palin's use of her hockey mom PTA background to win votes only adds to my skepticism of her competence as a major political world leader. If she doesn't want me to question her ability (as a wonam) to effectively balance the complexities of her family and career, then she shouldn't parade her special needs child and pregnant teen on camera as a vote-garnering tactic! Palin should have learned that in Business 101 - or perhaps she did not take that course. Qualified???? Poster: Jean Comment: Polls are just a tool to sway voters to the perceived winner. After all, don't folks want to be on the winning side?! I refuse telephone polls for this reason but have voted on this one thinking perhaps I should fight back. Poster: kurt Comment: Unscientific and irrelevant. How do you folks sleep at night using our taxpayer dollars while being so obviously slanted. Stop NPR's use of federal funds! http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/StopNPR/signatures.html Poster: Ruthie Comment: In the interests or fairness and to keep your bias from showing, if you are going to ask is Sarah Palin, who as VP very probably would never be president, is qualified why not ask if Barack Obama, who very likely could be our next president, is qualified to be president? Poster: John Comment: Hilarious! The media love polls, and rarely point out the scientific weaknesses. UNTIL THEY CONTRADICT THE LIBERAL SPIN!! Then the media bend over backwards to to shoot down the results. If the poll went heavily against Palin, would there be all of this 'hey it's not scientific!!' stuff? Of course not. :-) Poster: Chuck Comment: This is why PBS is not even a viable source of un-biased information. Our tax payer dollars submit such a leftist agenda as PBS is completely disappointing and should be reviewed for possible savings in the future by a complete elimination. I only accessed the site to make sure you hypocrites did not try to unfairly misrepresent another hard working American who has not received her position by entitlement mentality. What has PBS's candidate Barrack Obama ever truly accomplished on a main stage? PBS is just another media hack that should no longer be subsidized. Poster: Donald Walker Comment: If the palen poll ain't right why do it at all as i am getting daily website address from republican sites to vote for palen and vote each time. Certainly misleading. Some people actually believe the results. Poster: Amber Comment: Where are the polls on everyone else? Poster: Frankie Stone Comment: Well, if you're an oddball like me who sets his browser to delete cookies on closing, you can still vote all you want! Once is enough for me, though. Thanks. Poster: Stephanie Comment: I'm disappointed that PBS would knowingly run a poll that it is unscientific and can influence how people vote. This seems contrary to the principles and mission of PBS, and I sincerely hope PBS will find a more responsible way to attract readers to its site. Poster: Bob Gallant Comment: This isn't a poll at all. It's UN-scientific baloney promoted by an abundantly clear left-leaning, taxpayer supported media outfit who has, guess what!, left-leaning watching by far who, of course, has a skewed opinion of this 'poll subject' or anything PBS does. Get real and get honest. Poster: ES Comment: It's sad to think that people might actually form their opnions based on invalid polls set up and reported on by the mainstream media - and your poll was invalid from a statistical and quality control standpoint from the get-go. In addition, you certainly can't FIX a poll once you've already distributed it - did you throw out all of the results you collected prior to your Fix? Regardless of one's political affiliations, if they have any education or critical thinking abilities at all they should be able to see through these media public opinion polls. I agree with others who have commented on what a disservice these types of polls are - particularly in a year when the media should help people to focus on the real issues and platforms of the candidates and their respective parties. I think I'll stick to the excellent PBS offerings in the arts etc. - and won't be giving one iota of credence to any of your political campaign information offerings. Poster: Ed M Comment: PBS = Pure BS, the data from the Sarah Palin poll is absolutely useless. The tracking cookie does not prevent individuals from voting multiple times, it just adds a small layer of complexity that anyone with basic computer skills can overcome. This is another way for publically funded PBS to skew results for their left wing agenda or have you believe 16% (53 Million as the poll indicates) of the TOTAL US population has voted on their website. Have some journalistic standards and remove this farce of a poll from your website or keep it and add some Britney Spears polls so you can match the National Enquier standards. Where is the poll asking if voter believe Obama is qualified. Poster: Victoria Comment: I am upset that such an informative program with the credibility of PBS would coninue with this poll after it has been contaminated from the beginning. This poll should be either dismissed as fraudulent or started over with the now present 'cookies'. I refuse to believe that any informed person would vote 'yes' for this sarcastic, vindictive & potentially dangerous woman. The thought of her (and her husband!) running our country terrifies me and it should be a huge concern to every American whether they are leaning Democrat or Repubican. Please do not allow this poll to falsely reveal that half of America is fine with her leading our country. The majority of America is not that stupid. Poster: Cheryl Comment: Why do we need these polls? The true poll will be on election day. People should make their choices based on their own convictions and the facts not on what a poll is saying. These polls aren't scientific. Poster: Joe Morstatt Comment: Your decision to run a poll on whether Sarah Palin is qualified is so unfair regardless of whether your a republican or democratic supporter! Your ignorance shows in your choice to run this poll. Senator Obama has LESS qualifications of running government agencies/committees, etc than Gov. Palin has. Where is the fairnes? What's you point. And you wonder why the American public is disgusted with politics and the media? Poster: Sean Savage Comment: I just voted in this poll five times. I am a single person, using a single Web browser, on a single computer, using a single Internet connection. Politics aside, speaking from a purely technical standpoint: This poll is a farce. Your executive producer claims that each 'user can only vote once per computer.' That's simply not true. He does not understand the technology he's using; but the scary thing is that he THINKS he understands that technology and he is very confident is his completely false assumptions. Your polling software and measurement methods are badly broken. Please take down this poll; it doesn't do anyone any good, and it only serves to damage PBS's reputation. (For whatever it's worth, I'm a Democrat and would never dream of voting for Palin/McCain.) Poster: Dale Burch Comment: While I applaud your efforts to make this a meaningful and fair poll, you seem to have forgotten the people who have one computer in the family and both husband and wife use the computer for answering questions about the preparedness of a particular candidate for VICE president. I think to be fair, you should ask whether or not the Presidential candidates are qualified, and use the same criteria and factors for judging the answers to those questions as you do for judging the Vice President. In my opinion, the Obama team comes up short. Poster: Greg Boyles Comment: Re: PBS Palin Poll It would have been nice to have listed in one column the executive branch experience(s) & responsibilities the Governor has had and adjacent to the Governors list, show the executive experience of senator Obama... AND THEN without saying or showing who was who above or below each column; Simply ask your viewers to select the column of experience you would find more suitable for a Vice Presidents position. Then, report the results as to who was selected after the polling was completed. I think it would have been a lot more fun than simply ask the question in the way you did. Poster: sunnyca Comment: To say that CNN (aka communist news network) allows unlimited voting is not much of an excuse. Every news comment section I've ever visited uses cookies to prohibit multiple anonymous recommends or thumbs down for posted comments. Cookies do not collect personally identifiable information--people who don't know that are surely naive and few in number, as cookies are required to access many sites, esp. news sites on the internet. I also doubt the truth of your assertion that the poll was intended to draw readers to your 'deep news.' I'd bet that close to 100% of the poll voters came right to the poll, voted, and left. I know that Democrats have mass mailed the link and instructed people to vote that Palin's not qualified. This is irresponsible partisan activity by a publicly funded organization. The media in this election crossed the line long ago. I, along with others, have canceled subscriptions to certain offending publications. By the way, everyone knows how to get around thre cookie limitation-by clearing the cache-so you are still seeing the effect of the flood of multiple voters. And I'm not going to be the first to go to your 'deep news.' Your bias has been revealed. Poster: nicole maron Comment: I find it wholly irresponsible for NOW to keep the poll posted when the management knows it is illegitimate, there is viral momentum with direct links still running. The cookies were not implemented when it was first posted, and so folks realized they could game it and vote over and over again. They can still game it, simply by removed the cookie and trying again. This is not now, nor has it ever been, a legitimate poll. I can only suspect there is a business goal of showing increased traffic, and to do so with misinformation and faulty poll logic is a disgraceful, FoxNews-like tactic. I know PBS is better than that, so I am just shocked to see this still up, and wildly disappointed to read this weak rationalization for its continued existence. Poster: Aaron, Seattle Comment: Cookie-based security on a poll does nothing to prevent one person from voting as many times as they want to from a single computer. No poll that uses it can avoid being pummelled with bogus votes. The only method that implements anonymous internet polling without leaving a gaping hole of riggery open is to keep track of each IP address that votes on your server and allow only one vote per IP. This is not difficult to do, by the way - A $500 PC running Linux, Apache, PostGres, and a CGI written in C with an AVL-tree frontend storing most recent hundred thousand IPs to reject runs of votes from the same IP without having to hit the database should be able to handle thousands of votes per second. With cookies, your server is trusting that the voter hasn't simply deleted the cookie sent to them from the first vote tally page before voting again. Anyone with a little knowledge about HTTP and scripting can vote 100,000 times an hour in a web poll with cookie-based security... that's certainly what happened to you, and will happen to every cookie-based poll you run. Poster: DT Comment: Thanks for the thoughtful analysis of the poll. All too often, people mentally equate 'poll' with 'vote'. Polls can only reflect the amount of interest a particular subject might elicit among a select group of viewers, and we all need to be reminded of this fact. Poster: Dr. Thomas Beatty,DD,BFHM Comment: From a statistical point of view, your poll is utter nonsense. It doesn't matter if you let respondents vote only once or repeatedly since it violates almost every rule of good statistical sampling. It is worthless in either case. For this reason you should caveat it and point out its numerous defeciencies as a statistical tool. Otherwise I fear that laymen will read it presuming it has some useful meaning. Poster: Joanne Warren Comment: This polling process in unfair because my husband, daughter and I, all of voting age, use the same computer! If we only get one voter PER computer.......two people's votes DON'T COUNT??????? How the heck do you call that fair much less American???? Poster: Vic in New Jersey Comment: Face it.. the poll merely indicates a partisan viewpoint. It has little to do with qualifications. In the end it is merely an indicator of where PBS visitors stand on perceived future policy direction. If you had a poll -- Who would you prefer for president? Obama or Palin? I think the results would be similar. If Palin were in a race for President against Obama, would you vote for her? That is the question. Both are neophytes so we base our perception on which one we think shows the most logic or practicality in their responses to economic or foreign policy questions. The usual racist and mysogynist qualifiers can accompany the poll for buzz value but again, policy differences will drive most of the voting. Poster: Kassandra Comment: This is NOT unbiased reporting. It is even worded in the Negative! But of course you knew that. There are no questions about the other candidate's ability to lead, nor even a choice of who would be more capable-- The question is a BIASED AS THEY COME. Are you Happy with all the hits and publicity you've gotten??? -- Well you should be just as happy as a $2 whore because that's what PBS has obviously become if you can sacrifice your journalistic credability for a little bit of PR and viral email marketing. I should do a poll: Is PBS fit to run a political discussion? and see how many post hits *I* get!!!! If you think the answer would be anything other than NO -- from both sides -- after this, then you need to think again. It could easily be any candidate targeted like this, one you like one day perhaps? While other Media networks may have owners with adgendas and business/advertizing funding needs, PBS is [suposed to be] a PUBLICly owned and funded outfit. There is nothing that serves the public about this poll. -- It only seeks to sensationalize and waste the time of ALL voters, instead of giving efforts to inform and cover election news. It further unnecessarilly seeks to discredit one candidate by making the question ONLY about them, instead of asking a more nuetral question with ALL candidates as possible answers. Please leave sensationalist stories, slants, and time wasting to the major news networks -- they get paid to do that -- You, PBS, Do Not. Poster: John M Comment: To say this Poll is ridiculous and is a disservice is to assume you believe in the fabricated polls lead by the Obama bias main stream media,that allows Obama to say and do anything he wants without challenge . Bottom line is this: , he has less experience then Sara Palin and it's him that is running for President not her. He goes free unquestioned because he has sheep willing to flock an follow his every word spoken in a messiah like fashion This would be very dangerous to elect this man that has our enemys supporting his campaign. Wake up America do your own research and don't rely on the extreme left that have a different agenda for America Doesn't anyone want to know how at the beginning of Obama's campaign when he was a long shot how he was able to raise so much money, before the Oprah bucks and Kenedy endoresments hmmmmmmmm Poster: Don Comment: Very interesting discussion. I assume you are intelligent enough to realize that if your original poll would have had the option of voting yes or no to whether Obama, McCain, Biden, and Palin respectively were qualified; you would have identical results. Each one would be 49% qualified and 49% unqualified. You have just made an enormous contribution to the hate and divisiveness that have become so common in our beloved country. I am sure you are very proud of your effort to continue the destruction of our country. Both Obama and McCain vowed initially to make every effort to stop that hate and to work to make our government work for the American people instead of the politicians of both parties. In my personal opinion that will never be accomplished until we completely revamp the seniority system that rules our congress and rewards the incumbents of both parties with a bias for their reelection and control of the power structure with their power proportional to their longevity in congress. We need a system that both Obama and McCain have proposed for the public school system. Provide a reward for the best congressmen and help the others find a job somewhere else. I know of no viable way to achieve a competent congress without term limits on reelection or term limits on committee membership and position in the power structure of congress. What we are doing now is obviously not working for congress or for either political party and definitely not for our country. Now this might be a poll worth your time or preferably an honest debate by competent, unbiased journalists, or is that an oxymoron? Incidentally, I find it interesting that in the 2000 election there was a pretty strong feeling among the regular people that both parties had the wrong person heading their ticket, and that the country would be better served had both tickets been inverted. I personally feel that way about the candidates for both parties in the 2008 election Poster: T Snow Comment: Many Americans share one computer at home, so the single person households actually have an uneven proportion in the weight of the poll. For my house, two people have to share this vote. If boyfriend / girlfriend live apart apart, they get two votes. Some people may use their work computers to vote also, again skewing the poll. We did not choose to do that, because we simply don't care enough about it, but I can see many people might. Poster: randy Comment: PBS is the PRESS. YOU should be asking HARD QUESTIONS of these candidates so we can then make informed decisions. THEN poll us. The reason talk radio is so popular is because they ask questions the PRESS should be asking. Obama gets treated with kid gloves while Hillary gets grilled. Obama gets a free ride while Palin gets car-jacked. Why not ask if Obama is qualified? Why not compare Palin's qualifications and experience to Obama's? HE's the one running for PRESIDENT. Poster: Michelle Morrison Comment: Get a life people. It's just a poll. You're only freaking out because you know it's true that she isn't qualified and you don't want the undecided voters to find out (by the way, too late). Every network and website runs a series of polls w/ different questions. Since this question about whether Palin is qualified is a hot topic, what is the big deal in creating a poll about it asking the readers/watchers their opinion? There is no poll about Biden's experience because his experience is not in question. PBS, don't listen to these goofy right-wingers. God forbid anyone criticize their candidate. Poster: Barbara Grover Comment: The fact that you chose to ask this specific question shows an inherent bias. I'm sorry, but I'm insulted as a woman. Poster: Christine Martin Comment: I personally enjoy spending time watching PBS and contribute often to the channel. I am not a much of a 'television watcher' though, as I find the large majority of cable/network programming to be disgracful. Though I am well aware that PBS tilts to the politcal left, you are being clearly rude to not poll Obama as he has LESS experience than Palin! Why not question Biden's ablities? Please stop showing your colors so loudly and remain a PUBLIC Television! You have many right wingers watching your programming because MOST of it is quality. Please don't ruin another channel with your leftist views. Afterall conservatives also contribute our hard earned dollars to your channel. Poster: amy cross Comment: I received several email notices--friends asking me to vote to prove that the anti-Palin side was sronger than the Pro. People did somehow decide that mobilization factor was what counted here. Palin's nomination has certainly increased email mass mail forwarding--how much of it is substantive seems small. Palin is a kind of rorschach test as the PBS editor says, she brings up all sorts of feelings about women, religion, control, feminism. Realizing that perception is key when evaluating Palin--I created the National Interactive Sarah Palin Report card--how people grade her depends on how they see her. You can find it at womenwantanswers.com Poster: Al Comment: If you are truly a PUBLIC service where is the equal time poll on Joe Biden. By having a poll only on Palin you are acting like and supporting the mainline leftist news media and that is not what a publicly supported broadcast system is supposed to be about. If you are questioning Palin's qualifications why don't you question Obamma's refusal to salute the American flag? He wants to be President of a country of which he does not even respect their flag. How low has PBS sunk to run such a one-sided poll and how low has the Democratic Party sunk when they even nominate such a person to stand for election as President of this great country and leader of the free world. I am proud to be a conservative Republican and even prouder to be an evangelican Christian and will definitely vote for the McCain/Palin ticket no matter what your ridiculous poll decides. Poster: Martin Owens Comment: I think you're method of polling is ridiculus and is a disservice to voters who will look at these polls seriously when trying to make up their minds in this very important election. You know very well that this is so and it is my belief that you are conducting these polls in this manner to advance your political agenda, whether you claim to have one or not. It is very convenient for you to say how more proper and accurate methods of conducting the polls would be invasive to people's privacy. In fairness you do admit that your polls can be easily manipulated by BOTH sides. I'll concede that this may be factually true, but it's widely known that PBS is one of the worst media outlets for fair and unbiased reporting of the facts. I seriously doubt that you would allow any poll of yours conducted in this manner to reflect any serious support for any candidate that you are opposed to. For Goodness Sakes! YOU have the ability to manipulate YOUR OWN polls when conducted in this manner. You should not be conducting these polls. They are most certainly NOT accurate by your own admission and you should at least TRY to SEEM unbiased in this election process. it is totally unconscionable that you would attempt to steer undecided voters toward your political point of view in this manner. It is the ultimate insult to me as a taxpayer that you are allowed to use my tax money in this manner. You should be reprimanded for this and all future government funding cut off immediately if you continue. Poster: Michael Rodning Bash Comment: These polls are sort of ridiculous - each side tries to stuff the ballot box with their supporters. It gets picked up by other media and reported as if it means something. I expect more from PBS and NOW. Poster: Merle Comment: I did receive an email about this poll. I am astonished and find it revolting to consider that any part of my generous public broadcasting donations might have been used to perpetrate this biased nonsense. Since you obviously DO have the money and the time to display this unconscionable poll, as an independent, I will no longer be donating to PBS nor will I ever turn on your channel. Perhaps a poll as to whether to boycott PBS would be more appropriate. Your website, states that you display TRUST by guaranteeing to treat complex social issues with journalistic integrity and compassion and that your audiences know they can rely on you to provide accurate, impartial information. You have lost your mission. You have lost your ethics. You have lost my support. Poster: Danny Bailey Comment: Why is a publically funded orginization involved in such an obviously partisan effort? I can only sumise that enough left wing liberal democrats now populate PBS that your love for socialist Obama can not be hidden. I will be contacting my elected representatives and asking for all public funding to be terminated for PBS!! Long live the Christan America that was founded by our forefathers. Oh, and by the way, Sarah Palin is more qualified than Obama to be Vice President or, for that matter, President. Poster: Burton Silverman Comment: Instead of rather foolish poll about Pallin's alleged qualifications, why not run some hard core information about her record;her executive qualifications and her very curious evangelical beliefs/ You know, act as a public service kind of media that presents on the record,verifiable information, now clouded over by this stupid dustup and the frantic emails I'm getting.. Her record ? Just for starters She lied about the pressure exerted by her husband and herself to fire Trooper Wooten The Proof,? , her own legislature cited her for a violation of the ethics clause in the sate constitution She lied again, repeatedly on camera, about this citation by stating she was exonerated of any ethical wrongdoing! Furthermore,she has a long and ongoing associations with a secessionist political party whose continuing influence on her governance in Alaska is well understood locally and is underreported in the mainstream media. ( See a report by several people on , I believe, slate.com; also video tapes of her speech earlier this year at the Independence Party convention. She has expressed hard line pro Life,positions that would abolish all abortions even those for rape and incest pregnancies..These should be reported as part of her potential legislative agenda. Her being blessed by a preacher who admonished her to extirpate witches ( this is not Salem 1620) Her messianic mission to build a pipeline and her beatific sanction to run for Governor.. Are these not theocratic dispositions that clearly impact on the separation intentions of the US constitution?? Her Lies about earmarks:she garnered millions for Alaska not including the infamous bridge... She left Wasilla in debt ( another governor did that, became president and look at the shambles of the economy and the rule of law.). This is only a small roundup.. People who support her keep citing her record as a great executive:: Which is? she extorted money from the oil heavies in Alaska and then used their support to enact the famous pipeline EXCEPT it's not close to being built and is designed to transport oil and gas to CANADA..The money?? distributed to the hard prssed Alaskans who face exorbitant food costs and thus garner 80% approval rating Yes folks, read it and weep But as noted above, this kind of information should be your role on a Web site and what PBS was designed to do. Which was supply the unreported and the nuanced information to make for informed citizenry. But in the spirit of the hard sell, money driven mainstream, and tabloid journalism, you pick sham controversy The last thing we need is another silly poll which violates your public mandate an serves to once again distract us from the issues... Poster: Dan Comment: I am disappointed that PBS would conduct any polls, except to assess its own performance and to gather feedback to help the organization. They inform us about nothing. Poster: Ernie J Comment: I don't know how acurate the poll is and I really don't care, I know that I would and will vote for McCain and Palin. I think she is a straight shooter and I don't mean at animals I mean it think she tells it like it is. I think Obamma is a way for the Muslums to take us down from within. I don't trust him for a minute. Poster: john e Comment: PBS is not the place to have your reporters take polls on how they feel about a political canidate. Give us all free rein to the airways and see if that would be equal? And why not a poll about Obama,if he applied to the FBI for a job,he would be denied after a backgroud check because of all his radical friends. Poster: Sam Courtney Comment: Why didn't you just admit that by allowing unrestricted voting on the highly inlammatory and potentially dangerous subject of Sarah Palin's qualifications you made a stupid mistake, and apologize for it? I suppose you think you're a cut above all those American journalists who pander to the lowest common denominator. Apparently you're not. Poster: Jerry Bush Comment: It's a good concept, but for one problem. More Democrats will go through PBS than Republicans. If you really want a good poll, it should be one vote like this, but you need to advertise it nationally in advance and allow people to link to it through CNN & FOX. Then you'd have the best chance of having an accurate poll. Poster: andy rhodes Comment: Can't we voice our opinion by actually voting? rather than some tawdry and completely unscientific online poll? This is sooo CNN! Poster: Stan Comment: Your website is being passed around the internet to conservative voters. Their goal is to tip the results to align to their political philosophy. Poster: Lynn in TN Comment: The PBS poll is no more or less accurate than the voter registration being influenced by ACORN in states all across America. Hopefully it is getting people fired up. And yes, Ms. Palin is more than qualified for Vice President, in fact I think she would make a far better President than Mr. Obama!! His judgement is so flawed how can we trust him to keep our country's best interest as his top priority. Poster: Su Comment: I have been a loyal supporter of PBS, but I just cannot believe that you allowed repeat voting in this poll. It isn't just non-scientific, it is horribly flawed and absolutely innacurate. Even silly little polls online don't allow multiple votes. As for hiding behind the idea that cookies could present a privacy risk, a simple disclaimer would take care of that. If a person didn't want a cookie, they just don't vote. Shame on you guys. I could have run a better poll myself. I suggest you throw out the so-called results entirely or start over with a new poll question. Or get out of the polling business altogether. Poster: Su Comment: I have been a loyal supporter of PBS, but I just cannot believe that you allowed repeat voting in this poll. It isn't just non-scientific, it is horribly flawed and absolutely innacurate. Even silly little polls online don't allow multiple votes. As for hiding behind the idea that cookies could present a privacy risk, a simple disclaimer would take care of that. If a person didn't want a cookie, they just don't vote. Shame on you guys. I could have run a better poll myself. I suggest you throw out the so-called results entirely or start over with a new poll question. Or get out of the polling business altogether. Poster: Monika McDermott Comment: This entire dust-up is a perfect example of irresponsible behavior regarding 'polls.' While you have a one paragraph disclaimer on the website about how this poll is not scientific (but rather a 'Rorschach test' of mobilization) the public has not received that message. Has it been posted or announced anywhere but the website? Does it at least appear as a disclaimer to those who go to the poll web-page to participate? (Not on the voting page at least.) While you admittedly consider this a clever tool to increase traffic to your website, have you also considered the possibility that the public is taking it more seriously than that? Messages on both sides of the political aisle encouraging people to participate are treating this as an actual survey whose results matter. Not only are you generating biased aggregations of 'opinion' that can influence the undecided (and perhaps even sway some of those previously decided) in our electorate, you are further undermining the already besieged profession of scientific polling. A profession, I might add, that provides the ONLY possible correction to the meaningless results, and resulting misperceptions, you're currently generating. I would expect better from PBS. Poster: Kilgore the Canadian Comment: (NB: I didn't vote, and this comment sent before I know any results.) As an advocate for Public Media, and a long-term Canadian supporter of WNED-Buffalo, I think I should report on your profound loss of credibility up here. We looked to you for truth-telling about the U.S. election that rose above the lies, nastiness, and especially the SPIN of it all. In hosting the Sarah Palin poll, you are now rewarding those on both sides of the question who tell lies, spread nastiness and will SPIN its results. Added to that, your boasting about its response rate increases our concern that you might be willing to sacrifice your principles for tawdry publicity. You are making it tougher for us to solicit and provide support for PBS. Poster: Joe S. Comment: This poll is being run by a member of the slanted liberal media, and therefore will not reflect a proper vote due to the larger amount of liberals reading this and using this site. This of course will probably never make the editor's cut, but it is the truth. Whatever results you get will also be slanted. I have no doubt that Palin will lose this poll regardless of her qualifications. Where is the Obama poll? The Biden poll? Liberals are threatened by Palin, and are attacking her relentlessly and mercilessly. What about all of the trash and sordid past of Obama, where is the media on those issues whichj are much bigger than troopergate? Convenient omissions I guess. Poster: Jane Comment: Why not just call it a survey and not have to go through all this back and forth? A poll, as you wrote above, suggests that it was a scientifically-based random sampling. Even if you put a disclaimer up it still says 'poll.' Surveys allow whoever wants to register an opinion to do so. I think it's irresponsible to continue using the word poll. Call it a survey and be done with it. Poster: T. Procter Lippincott Comment: I think the biggest concern prompted by an overly-slanted poll in which one person can respond multiple times is that its results may be profoundly/wrongly influential on others who may not recognize the underlying dynamic. Poster: Russell Lenth Comment: This is not a legitimate poll, because the respondents are self-selected. It is not legitimate journalism, because it in no way reflects public opinion -- only counts of those who visit the site (likely with encouragement from political organizations). There is no useful information here. You should take this non-poll off the web and do not report any results anywhere. Poster: Peggy Comment: I only found out about this poll because of a virulant e-mail, and only voted for the obvious reason that the site was being flooded by Republicans who put the heads-up first to flood it with votes. Perhaps PBS should just refrain from polls and stick to intelligent, nuanced commentary about the issues and candidates. And for the record, I think McCain's selection of the unqualified, wilfully ignorant, and hatemongering Palin has taken this country down a very ugly road.... Poster: Douglas G. Kelly Comment: Despite your warning that this is not a scientific poll, its results, however unreliable, will be used by whoever feels they can gain by saying that PBS listeners have one view or another. There is no reason ever to conduct a poll that, like this one, is based on a volunteer sample. It is reckless and irresponsible, and it conveys no useful information to the public. Please, please stop conducting such polls! Douglas G. Kelly Professor of Statistics University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Poster: Donna Comment: Apart from perceived bias, this kind of polling contributes to dumbing down and pulls away from the intelligent discussion we expect from PBS. Everybody else on the planet conducts the discourse in this flat-line yes/no style, in which serious thinking is discouraged. A non-scientific poll only flatters the pollster and adds to misinformation. But you them as sucker pulls, (gateways, according to John Siceloff). He claims they invite people who might not ordinarily come to our site to participate, to explore the deep journalism that is offered throughout NOW's nearly 10,000 web pages and 1,000 video streams. They don't provide the nuanced interpretation of our investigative journalism and deep content, but do provide a gateway to that content. (About The Sarah Palin Poll, From John Siceloff, Executive Producer, NOW on PBS.) Good gateways mirror the interior. Using bad journalism to attract people to good journalism borders on prostitution. Poster: Rob Comment: Any opportunity to express an opinion on a political topic is worthwhile, and the subject of Palin's viability as a candidate has more merit than most. The more we see of her, the worse it gets. The vile rhetoric spewed by Sarah Palin shames every one in this country, particularly her own party and running mate. Allowing this person a legitimate platform to disseminate hate and inflame the most ignorant elements in our population is criminal, frightening, and puts into question not only Sarah Palin's qualifications, but John McCain's as well. Poster: Diana Pearson Comment: I find it dishonest to conduct any poll where people can vote more than once without being detected. However, I am not willing to vote in this poll because I do not want 'cookies' left on my computer. I am not a computer geek, so I do not know if there is any other alternative to assure a poll with integrity that does not penalize the voter via unwanted cookies. PS: I would vote yes, Sarah Palin is qualified to be VP based on her executive experience and excellent record Poster: alise Comment: Just take the darn thing off your site so the chain emails can die!! Poster: Katharine Comment: You say it yourself--this is a ridiculous (and very dangerous) direction in which to go. There is nothing scientific about this poll, so why not drop it altogether? PBS and NOW know better, but are acting like Fox. Why, is beyond me. Poster: nina ford Comment: I am confused . I just got an e mail from a friend saying the poll was coming out in favor of Sarah Palin. She asked me to jump in to the poll and vote no because obviously the right wing had some kind of a sneaky way of getting this poll rigged!! If the poll had come out against Sarah I am sure there wouldbe no worries about cheating. This is a big joke, just like you programming. Poster: Jeff Briggs Comment: I have 2: 1. Can your fail-safe implemented after 9-22 be compromised by a repeat voter who simply deletes yout cookie? and 2. Will you post the results obtained before and after you took steps to limit cheating? Thanks Poster: Wendy Comment: The one good thing about this is that from the comments below, there appears to be a lot of agreement across party lines that type of poll is innappropriate. If you want to appear less biased, you should consider the same type of poll questioning Obama's qualifications. If you find that suggestion offensive, then you should take a look at the motives behind the Palin poll. Poster: Dorothy Leonard Comment: I believe these unscientific polls feed into the anger that separates members of the community and even sometimes family members. My reasoning? No matter which side you are on (disclosure: I favor Obama), you are horrified at the poll results so far, you fear manipulation by the other side, so you rush to vote on your own side. Such voting raises your own emotions--fear and anger--and we need more rationality, not more emotion at this juncture in our history. Let's leave the polling to scientific methods. They may raise emotions as well, but at least it's less personally involving (unless you are the one polled)and therefore raises less personal anger. I feel as if we are re-fighting the Civil War--neighbor against neighbor. Poster: Carol S Comment: I've voted 6 times to see if I could; I could. This is a typical right-wing radio host tactic to subvert this poll, and other such, to their purposes. I hear some of Linbaugh and Hannity every day, and I know they do nothing but hate-monger and fear- monger. The problem is that the majority of people who follow them faithfully do not take the time to question or research. I hear the calls (a precious few that disagree are allowed on air, and they are talked over and hung up on). I also don't know why these un-Americans weren't prosecuted for subverting the voter process in the primaries by telling listeners to change registration and vote for Hillary. John McCain got a snapshot yesterday (10/10/08) of the results of this despicable radio jock tactic. I'd call them buffoons but they are too dangerous. They sound like Nazi Germany. Poster: Serena Comment: This whole controversy is stupid. It says right on the poll that it is not scientific. Everyone should know that online polls are just for fun. I just don't understand why people are getting so upset about this. Poster: Anita Brosius-Scott Comment: My confidence in PBS was such that I found it hard to believe that PBS would promulgate a 'poll' such as 'Do you think Sarah Palin is qualified to be Vice President?' This poll serves to seriously exacerbate the party and cultural divisions that are already at an all-time high in this country, as both sides scramble to generate credibility for their answer, hoping that they will 'win' by having their opinion prevail and be reported. Given that PBS has engaged in this dubious endeavor, it is now their responsibility NOT to scramble to make it more legitimate by inserting cookies, but rather to take it down and NEVER report on the 'results' unless it is to admit their foolishness for starting it in the first place. Poster: E Bruce Brooks Comment: The Palin poll is not only not scientific, as its designers have specifically conceded, it is not even a poll at all. It is an invisible and wholly uncontrolled billboard, which is highly subject to distortion by political action groups. It may have attracted the interest of PBS listeners, but the interest is spurious, since no poll is involved, and it is dangerous to the political process, since displaying its results as though they WERE a poll is very likely to influence voters. It is one more way for the less scrupulous party to distort the issues. I beg you to withdraw this so-called poll and others like it. They do PBS no credit, and they do USA palpable harm. And we don't need any more of that at this time. Yours most sincerely, Lifelong PBS regular E Bruce Brooks Poster: C C Randall Comment: How about a date for the commentary? If people are still voting, why not know how out of date their actions are? I've received at least four e-mails with the original link over the past three weeks! Today is October 10, 2008! Poster: Tam Tollefson Comment: Ridiculous polls can sway uninformed and misinformed voters. I'm disappointed to see PBS promote such nonsense- and then try to justify it. Poster: Jonathan Comment: For a program and network dedicated to journalistic integrity, it is a disgrace to see it pushing a gimmick as unreliable, suspect and lacking in news value as this poll. The introduction now posted makes it clear this is just about driving traffic to your site. NOW needs to find means of doing so that do not confuse news with promotion. The poll should be taken down. And until it is, I'm not going to watch or read NOW programming. Poster: Ken Comment: Where did America's fascination with polls come from? Do we really think that the greater the number of people who believe something, the more correct it is? Only 700 years ago, the majority of people believed the earth to be a more or less flat disk. What made the earth cease to be flat...or was the majority wrong? Polls are for herd animals, not for people who think for themselves. Democracy only works if people think for themselves. Poster: Helen Setser Comment: You still haven'tgot itright! I got another e-mail today urging me to vote and I thought surely it would be closed by now. I wrote the person who sent the e-mail and told her just for the fun of it, I had voted more than once in it just to see if it was a legit poll. Then I got back on tonight and guess what__I got to vote again! I knew when I first saw the resuklts of the poll it was crooked. I do not believe any poll because none of them can be trusted. Somehow people think if they pad a poll it will influence people to vote their way. Wrong! Poster: Penny Comment: I voted only once in the poll, negatively. Polls are only as relevant as we allow them to be, yet they are so fun! Poster: H Woodum Comment: These polls are a scam because they are inaccurate when voters are allowed multiple votes. The polls mean nothing in terms of what is actually going on. They are skewed because of multiple votes and so are inherently flawed. They should be thrown out. If PBS is ever going to have any real credibility, they need to reveal the true nature of what is going on here, I mean full disclosure. But then, isn't that the nature of the media and politics to deceive and manipulate the public and to leave out the most important facts and details? Seems to be what this country is all about-a true lack of integrity. Whatever it takes to win, be it deceipt, dishonesty, doping. It really doesn't matter as long as we win, right? Poster: Andrew Birch Comment: After reading an email from a concerned democrat that somehow a poll of Americans with the ability to read and access the internet were considering Palin a qualified VP - I wasted several minutes researching how this travesty could be. I hope you are happy - You wasted several minutes of my life reading about your worthless and pointless poll and have given fodder to the right to support a dim-witted nobody that will ruin our country if ever she made it to the oval office. thanks - from a former PBS supporter. Poster: Jeff Comment: This poll is bogus. I discovered it a few days ago via a link in a comments thread on Huffington Post. Tuesday it was tied at 49%- 49%, and it still is today, Friday. What the hell is the point? Is there a termination date for this poll? As many others have stated, this type of online poll is not what we have come to expect from PBS. NOW the show is terrific, but this poll has to go. thanks. Poster: Ruth Comment: The poll is meaningless. There are several people in our home who use the same computer. You have the poll set up so that only one user can vote in your poll. What about the opinions of the other family members? Don't they count too? Poster: Eileen Green Comment: With all the hysteria in the media, I have limited my TV viewing to PBS. On the Jim Lehrer News Hour, the reporting is calm and informative. Whenever it's on, I regularly watch NOW, Bill Moyer's Journal, Charlie Rose, Tavis Smiley, and many other shows. PBS is part of my continuing education. I appreciate the addition of World Focus at 6PM EST, as the realization that 'we are all connected' financially, as well as environmentally,has become all too clear. I agree with those who think that this poll was a huge mistake. We all make them. Just admit it. Your poll, unwittingly, became another opportunity for divisive partisanship to rear its ugly head. It's just another distraction when we need to be working together to better unify our citizens in order to deal with the worrisome issues of the day. PBS is important to me, and I don't want those, who have tried to take PBS off the air, to have a reason to hurt or mock you. Poster: William Hall Comment: This poll is bogus. I can delete my cookies and vote all day long. You shouldn't run a poll that can be gamed or accept multiple votes from a single person, otherwise it's just fluff. Poster: Stan Sewitch Comment: Polls are supposed to assess public opinion. That's what I thought voting was for. The polling process, and this one is included, erodes the legitimacy of our democratic method of electing our representatives in government. We should make up our minds regarding the candidates, Palin included, and express those convictions in November. And the polling process, whether it be this one, Gallup or any of the countless other ones, is not even scientific. The sampling method is not disclosed, the questions don't capture the full intention of respondents since these are complex issues that can't be accurately answered with a simple binary answer, and the results are therefore suspect. And yet the results, if taken as fact can influence the voting process in a way that has no correlation to the facts or qualifications of the candidates. PBS has succumbed to a goal of getting clicks on the website, just like Fox succumbs to increasing market share through sensationalism. If PBS is supposed to represent the best in unbiased journalism, you would do well to steer clear of attempting to be a pollster, trivializing the content of the news you should be more thoroughly examining. Poster: Melva J. Cain Comment: Come on guys, the PBS poll is beyond reason. I have voted numerous times and have NEVER been told my vote was not counted. NO, you should not post any results, they would not be honest. Please, just continue your unbiased reporting and leave the games to others. Poster: Laurel Comment: Typical use of technology to gather and disseminate information based on the now ubiquitous assumption that more data somehow equals good data. Even thoughtful, well trained pollsters have trouble getting meaningful data from opinion polls. Any news organization that purports to 'encourage people to explore deep journalism' is violating its principles by putting up meaningless polls such as the Pallin poll. There are vastly better uses of people's time, and much better ways of gathering and reporting on public opinion. This is especially disappointing coming from such a respected institution as PBS. Poster: d freedman Comment: I think you were well intentioned, but created a monster. This makes great copy for the media to put out there how a majority or near majority think S P is qualified. McCain's people can quote a reputable source like pbs and pinch themselves for being given such a valuable gift. Poster: Pamela Polland Comment: You should have taken the poll down the minute you realized you were getting multiple votes from the same source. If you had implemented cookies from the get go, it would have been fairer, albeit not scientific. To leave the poll up with numbers that still reflect the mass of extra same source votes is only inciting anger from both ends of the opinion spectrum. Admit your mistake and take the poll down, with an announcement that due to YOUR ERROR, the poll was unable to get a true reflection of public opinion. And be more careful in the future so your polls AT LEAST reflect fair play. Poster: Darryl Comment: I just voted three times from the same PC, and could continue to vote as many times as I want. Potentially, even through a script. Polls are useless, as they can be manipulated so easily and especially, based on how questions are phrased. This country has turned from common sense and morals to total ignorance, relying only on what they hear from the media, which has lost all sense of true, honest journalism and a patriotic responsibility to this great country. Poster: J. G. Fortis Comment: You are to be commended for limiting one vote from one site. However, as you acknowledge that does not make the findings reliable. Odly, it does have validity, albiet perservsely, because, in large part it measures the dynamic unity of those for or opposed to Palin. What is wrong with such polling is that must people seeing to poll count take it at face value not knowing there is virtually no statistical realiability to it. Service or disservice to the public? I vote disservice. Poster: Randy Morris Comment: I assume this poll is a result of the Democrat issues raised by Mr. Obama's opponents during their primary process, and picked up by the Republicans in the general election campaign. Now the questions are being directed at Mrs. Palin. Since both Mr. Obama and Mrs. Palin have about the same experience level in government, what were the results of your poll on the same issue for Mr. Obama? If you have not conducted one would there be a reason not to? Poster: Helen Comment: Take down the poll and toss out the results. This is not American Idol! Poster: J L Brown Comment: I was sent an email request to vote in this poll by a Democrat, asking me to vote NO as many times as possible. NOW and PBS already are on record as calling Palin unqualified, so why bother? A better poll question would be to report what Barney Frank and Chris Dodd have done in the Congress and Senate committees they have chaired the past few years, to create the banking, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae fiasco. Then simply ask your readers if they knew these two were actaully more resonsible for the problems than W. That would be interesting and responsible reporting. Poster: L McCarthy Comment: I urge you to disband this ill-advised poll. Even with the changes you outlined, it is still statistically inaccurate and a poor reflection on PBS. Poster: Michael P Comment: Regarding your Sarah Palin poll at -- after voting, it takes the user to the next site, http://www.pbs.org/cgi-registry/poll/poll.pl This site says the results are 49% / 49% / 0%. ALWAYS. How do I know? I looked at the programmer's code. It doesn't display the real-time results: Here is a section of the code: [b]49% ... [b]49% ... [b]0% I changed the HTML to brackets above so as not to affect the displayed page here, but one can see the source by doing VIEW / SOURCE using a brower. Poster: Julie Todd Comment: I think that the inaccuracy of these polls is very upsetting. I wish PBS woulnd't do this, for whatever reason. My sister-in-law forwarded this email to me, that she received yesterday Oct. 9 - PBS has an online poll posted asking if Sarah Palin is qualified. Apparently the repulican party platform knew about this in advance and are flooding the voting with YES votes. The poll will be reported on PBS and picked up by mainstream media. It can influence undecided voters in swing states. Please do two things -- takes 20 seconds. 1) Click on link and vote yourself. Here's the link: http://www.pbs.org/now/polls/poll-435.html 2) Then send this to every single Obama-Biden voter you know, and urge them to vote and pass it on. The last thing we need is PBS saying their viewers think Sarah Palin is qualified. I just voted and the poll is tied -- 49% yes, 49% no Poster: Chris Lunardini Comment: This is a ridiculous effort that proves nothing. It doesn't provide any accurate indication of whether or not people feel Palin is qualified or unqualified for the office. It's just an exercise to see which side can mobilize more people to cast a vote. So why do it? It's meaningless and misleading. And, if the results of your unscientific poll are published anywhere, it just adds to the general confusion resulting from myriad polls that often ask the same question with widely different results. If it is not a scientifically-controlled poll, it's silly to conduct it and/or publish the unscientific results. Poster: George M. Hudes Comment: I question the extent to which your poll (Is Sara Palin qualified) actually provides a utilized gateway to deeper or more nuanced journalism. What statistical basis to you have to indicate that your polls are truly a worthwhile utilization of resources to bring participants to more nuanced PBS analysis? Poster: mertisrules Comment: I have heard that the GOP are appealing to their members to flood this poll with yes votes > how do we know this isn't true, I read your disclaimer about one computer, one vote. What is the purpose of this poll after you have tabulated the results? It is obvious what the answer to this question is, would anyone want Palin a heartbeat from the highest office in our country. The very thought is abhorrent to say the least Poster: Cookie Monster Comment: Kooky Cookie Fix is No Fix at All Trying to stop ballot fraud on the Palin Poll? Casual inspection shows the Palin Poll cookie expires after exactly 24 hours. Thus even unsophisticated voters in the know can stuff the ballot box just by waiting. And anyone who can find the options menu can delete the PBS cookie and vote as often as they wish. You are contributing to election hysteria in your own small way. Poster: Peter Harkins Comment: That 'others' use this mechanism to 'poll' is not a reason, nor an excuse, for an institution some of us have come to trust over the years for 'generally' unbiased information to implement. If PBS can't afford a random sampling approach to assessing voter opinion (at least somewhat more accurate), please do not facilitate a mechanism so easily manipulated. 'Cookies', while absolutely required - how could you not have implemented their use initially - do not obviate the bias inherent in this form of opinion collection. Any results from this 'entertainment' picked up by the general media will be carried over the imprimatur of PBS. In the past that actually had some gravitas. Poster: Bruce K. Comment: I really believe these polls are useless and a bit irresponsible, because all that happens is that each side mobilizes its efforts to make sure their side is overly represented. Therefore, especially when multiple votes are allowed, not only is the poll not scientific, it creates useless results and only cheapens whatever purpose the poll was supposed to serve. I suppose the best thing PBS could do is not publish the results, instead of spending a lot of effort explaining cookies/multiple voting, etc. Poster: v boeing manning Comment: Your polls are flawed but very influencing. Anyone can vote multiple times even with a cookie block. STOP these polls. You just want lots of hits on your site and people love the interactive element BUT IT'S ALL MEANINGLESS - report that! It's downright unethical behavior to report this junk like it means something. I remember when PBS had some level of integrity. Poster: Dan Peden Comment: I love how - This is not a scientific poll - appears next to the poll question. A large percentage of Americans greatly distrust science and scientists and see nothing wrong with a poll that is not scientific and will respect the results anyway. It concerns me when PBS moves away from science and toward mainstream nonsense. I've long been a member of my local PBS station (WQED). Keep this up and I'll have to reconsider. Poster: concerned about bad journalism Comment: This type of poll is completely (in your own words) unscientific, and therefore is not only a complete waste of time, but unethical, as well. PBS should completely stop this type of information gathering, and most certainly the REPORTING of findings. Any discussion of supposed meaning behind the numbers would be misleading to the public -- not only regarding the facts involved in this particular case, but regarding the poll, itself, as being a true measure of anything. Not everyone reads the small disclaimer at the bottom of the page, and so many who read this may truly believe that these are reliable results of some responsible poll-taking efforts. PBS should stop this kind of thing immediately, and print a public apology to its viewers, or it will lose the trust of those who have come to believe it has higher standards. Otherwise, PBS is no better than Jerry Springer. Very shameful! Poster: Richard Schaul-Yoder Comment: You say that the Sarah Palin poll . . . will be all about mobilization, and less about manipulation . . . . Blogs on the left and right are circulating viral emails with the exact address of the poll. Since the results of the poll will be a measure of mobilization, it apparently has no pretensions of accuracy at all. Why then conduct the poll? The results will only be subject to misinterpretation and misuse. Poster: katherine davidson Comment: please don't use this palin poll to make a statement about your supporters. you know and i know that pbs supporters DO NOT think sarah palin is ready. it would be a grave disservice to all of us who support this pbs forum and have for years, to suddenly be thrown under that bus. you can well imagine the jeering and hype that would be given to publication of that poll. personally i think you shoul SHUT IT DOWN AND PULL IT OFF YOUR WEB SITE. what is it really serving but to upset those of us who don't support palin and do support pbs. thank you. Poster: Michael Blackwell Comment: It's irresponsible to even have polls like this on a credible news site. I ignored a few emails telling me to respond, figuring they were spam, and thinking that PBS wouldn't be so dopey as to have on-line polls. Please hew to a higher standard. Poster: Claudia Shuster Comment: As an emeritus professor with a doctoral degree, I value PBS and NPR as very high quality, educational media that help to keep me informed on a plethora of topics. I am very upset that you are using totally non-scientific polls, especially related to Sarah Palin, whose personal choice to agree to run for Vice President is only one example of her lack of deep understanding of the the high level of knowledge and sophistication needed to accept executive responsibility at the national level. Adriana Huffington recently suggested (at her speech at Williams College) that most recent political polls are non-scientific and she is refuisng to participate in any of them! I agree! However, that leaves others to have their voices counted and reported - meaningless, unreliable but with a possible impact. PLEASE STOP POLLING and instead emphasizxe how unsceintific these polls are!! - Dr. Claudia Shuster Poster: Emily Comment: Yawn. So. Open up the link in Firefox, vote. Open in Internet Explorer, vote. Open in Safari, vote. Open in Chrome, vote. Open in Opera, vote. That probably will work. As far as I am aware, the different browsers don't share cookies. And cookies are how they are preventing multiple votes. You could also... ta-daaaa..... delete your cookies then vote again. delete your cookies. vote again. lather. rinse. repeat. So... now we wait to see which side has more knowledgeable geeks? Poster: Catherine Comment: Why are you on the same bandwagon all other mainstream media use? Why do you reduce the election process down to a horse race...a poll. Please don't add your voice to all the other channels with one more UNSCIENTIFIC POLL! Why do you waste your time and ours with some that doesn't matter and just perpetuates the opinion of only those who would take the time to respond.....apparently the right wing. Please value what you do and what we want which is an in-depth look at the candidates and where they stand on the most important issues of the day: the economy, the environment, and our right to health care. Poster: Marilyn S. Comment: This is a very silly poll (that's generous). You can vote as many times as you want....it measures the amount of time one wants to devote to this activity. If you have extra time...try to register people in the close states. Poster: John Gimbel Comment: This is a survey where people choose to participate. News organizations love so called self-selected polls for two reasons. It is a cheap way to gather data and after people participate in such a survey, they are more likely to tune to to the news show to hear the analysis. All statisticians realize such polls show nothing. Any statistics generated are meaningless. They tell us nothing except how those that participated feel. I am sorry to see PBS stoop to this kind of foolishness. Poster: Sylvia Dickens Comment: John, So by your own admission, you guys are just doing this as a marketing tool to draw new visitors to your site, and of course determine what kind of audience you have. How admirable. Two other comments: 1) I like the one vote per computer approach. Otherwise the polls are meaningless. 2) I'm really very surprised that 50% of voters supporting Palin have anything to do with PBS. I'm sure that Sarah and her Alaskan moose shooters don't tune in to PBS very often. You're probably the brunt of their jokes. Poster: Erich Stephens Comment: I think these on-line polls are irresponsible and diminish your credentials as 'journalists'. You yourselves admit they aren't scientific and simply reflect the organizing prowess of the campaigns- hardly worth the false perception it creates that these polls somehow reflect the public opinion or 'give voice' to individuals, which they clearly they don't. Your own 'about the Poll' page gives only one reason why you do the poll. You use a lot of hand waving and dodging words, but what it comes down to is this: It drives traffic to the website. In other words, your willing to use yourselves as political pawns to get more readers. Hardly honorable journalism. Poster: kathe Comment: I was asked by a left wing friend to vote against Palin's qualifications- The right wing never contacted me...what's the real story! and yes, what exactly are Obama's qualifications? Is there any media bias to the question? it's interesting to see who is emailing and who is stacking the voting really! Poster: Oscar Mazzola Comment: Hi, The results from this question will obviously inaccurate. Are there ever only Yes or No answers in life. How about 5 choices ranging from Absolutely Not, to Absolutely. Also, can you vote more than once? I'm taking part in this, but there something offensive about this that I can't quite put my finger on yet. I got it, maybe there should be some sort of list that describes the Vice Presidents responsibilities first before anyone can make an educated vote on this matter. It clear she doesn't have enough political experience, I mean she couldn't even explain what the VP's job responsibilities were!? Poster: Ellen V. Moore Comment: Stop (this poll) in the name of love, justice, and the fate of our nation. This entire presidential process has been tainted, corrupted, bastardized, compromised, interrupted, ridiculed, undermined, and NOW NOW on PBS is adding to the circus atmosphere with a poll that still can be rigged. You are breaking my progressive heart. Gather callers to ask voters...but as for an web poll...please stop. Poster: Karen DeChino Comment: Why conduct a poll to produce useless results? You have wasted many people's time and we have created nothing valuable. The world does not need any more misinformation. If you can't do it right, you shouldn't do it at all. I consider this to be irresponsible journalism. It reflects badly on your organization. Find another way to attract people to your site. Poster: Robert Comment: Why can't people just answer the question without getting angry or engageing in gross particanship. She is definately NOT qualified because of her inexperience, and education! If a poll is done for McCain, Obama or Biden, I will answer it with the same objectivity I used for this one! Poster: AnneMaree Comment: The format of this Poll is about as credible as Palin is as a vice presidential candidate!! Hopefully PBS knows better than to call it valid. Poster: Paula Comment: PBS should stick to what it does best and it's not running polls. Poster: carole Comment: There is definitely something very very wrong about this poll. I had voted once, and sent it to many people, who in turn sent it across the country and YET...the poll remains the same 49-49 This must be a fixed poll in favor of the Republicans and I am sorely disappointed with the results, the voting and the apparently hoax of it all Poster: Jean Standish Comment: I am quite a fan of NOW; however, you used extremely poor judgment with this poll. From September 5 to September 22, your software allowed online users to vote repeatedly, which totally invalidated the process. When I first voted about a month ago, I noticed that Sarah Palin had received a high percentage of YES votes, outstripping the NO votes. The whole thing was a meaningless exercise. This was not a very substantive approach to the Sarah Palin qualification issue, which is hugely problematic, as we have come to learn. Another problem with this poll was that Senator McCain had just introduced Ms. Palin to the American public and not enough was known about her to make a valid judgment about her qualifications. This poll was more like a high school popularity contest based on the most superficial criteria. Poster: Chris Talbott Comment: I hope if nothing else this convinces you that any s-called poll of this type is much worse than useless. The fact that PBS apes commercial networks in this foolish tactic to stir interest in other, supposedly more worthy, content, greatly reduces my respect for the organization. How about a story about what real scientific polls are telling us--or not telling us--about the election and key issues around it? How about some more exposes about the privately funded groups that spread lies & distrust? How about a constant truth squad for all things political, for all sides? Journalism is in such a sad state these days. Someone find some H. L. Mencken DNA & start the resurrection process. The potential privacy issue is nothing compared to this. Poster: Nancy C. Russell, DrPH Comment: The Palin type of poll is grossly unscientific not only because of the risk of multiple votes from the same person, but also because the population being polled is an unknown and amorphous number. Accordingly, these polls are a huge waste of time and just spread panic among respondents who are trying to keep the others from flooding the poll. Poster: Kay Comment: Unscientific polls ought to be beneath the dignity of PBS. I am sad to see that PBS and NPR have both fallen so far. I used to watch/listen faithfully to PBS/NPR as news sources which truly did do their best to be fair, serious, and unbiased. It seems that both PBS & NPR have joined the MSM in the they say, but others say method of reporting with little attempt to report the facts anymore. For most issues, there are objective facts that can and should be reported--everyone may be entitled to their own opinion, but they certainly are not entitled to their own facts. Furthermore, news should be reported with the gravity a democracy inherently requires--serious matters like elections should not be treated as entertainment--we have the Daily Show for that. I no longer trust PBS or NPR as unbiased sources of information, but I do appreciate that Bill Moyers is still on PBS. I do believe that he does his best to present the facts--and when he is expressing his opinion, he tells us so. Poster: William Hall Comment: If you can't do a Poll Scientifically and limit it to one vote per person then it's 100% bogus. Your article states you use cookies to track users. Well advanced computer users can game your poll then and remove the cookies from their system and vote multiple times. If this gets picked up by the media it skews the truth, which is that there is no way Palin has a 49% approval rating. Kill the poll it's a freaking joke. Poster: Dr. Robert Comment: Personally, I voted three times, then closed my computer and did something more important: mailed in my absentee ballot request form. Poster: LaureBelle Comment: Online polls, due to the digital divide still prevalent in this country, only offer a small sampling of a small group of citizens, commonly known as computer users. Therefore, in my opinion, online polls should not be considered a valid source of the general population. Cookies can easily be deleted, so the user can still vote multiple times in a poll. You could limit voting by the IP number of a computer, but not everyone has a static IP assigned to their computer, so it is still possible for some to reboot their computer to generate a new IP number, and vote again. Although that would happen less frequently than cleaning cookies... Also, IP's are easy to spewf, thereby allowing multiple voting as well. Even if you allowed only registered email users to participate in your poll, there would still be some yahoo's who would sign up with multiple bogus email accounts, to multiple vote... Overall, online polls are worthless, save for entertainment purposes. Yet, so many in the media will report them as gospel. L Poster: Sharon Comment: The only vote that counts is the one on election day. Let us hope that every voter has the opportunity to have their vote counted and we do not come out of the process with the same doubts that clouded the last elections. This is where our energy should be spent. I have read some of the responses and they confirm my negative feeling about all polls...that being said it does allow voters to feel as if they have voice and stay involved Poster: Mary Ann Seitz-Hart Comment: I'm glad for the explanation... I'm no longer open to media other than PBS and NPR.... sometimes check local - and no longer trust any... I am one Aunt of Peter Hart's at FAIR - and I know you folks know him... and, he wrote a great piece on how polls are.... for me, they reflect just how addicted to greed our leadership is now.... Sharif Abdulah has just done a great piece describing what WE, as citizens, are living with - at CommonWay.org... in case you're interested - AND, pay attention to Conscious Evolution.org and Citizens' Solutions Council - presented at the DNC in Denver. I trust you folks - AND, please don't cave in to those in charge - leading the charge - NOW? .... we're headed for better; new ways of behaving overall. Thanks, MA AND, I hope this now submits with all the changes to my attempts at a little humor - obviously editing is a priority here! Poster: Laura Barnard Comment: This poll disgusts me beyond my ability to articulate. It works in opposition toeverything I have admired about PBS and Now. It has nothing to do with substance and doesn't provide one iota of information to a voter or assist them in making an informed decision. I will not vote in this poll. Poster: Bill Burke Comment: Self-selected polls are almost always nonsense, being unrepresentative samples drawn from the universe they sample. This knowledge would seem a vital part of professional journalism today. They are generally invalid samples and usually grossly misleading, and to pretend otherwise by blithely labeling them 'unscienific' is not enough warning to consumers and is blatantly poor journalism that casts doubt on the rest of what you do and say. Somewhere in your organization, heads probably need to roll for this unforgivable absurdity. I wonder what else you might be doing that is invalid and absurd? Poster: Shelley Krapes Comment: How could you do this? You have really lost my respect. The McCain/Palin campaign is about manipulation and deceit. So here is the evidence of that, with multiple votes endorsing her. And this could be interpreted incorrectly by undecided voters who think your liberal stance is supporting her. She is the worst candidate to ever run. As an American woman I am appalled by her and the Republican campaign. Poster: Izzy O'Rainey Comment: 1) I think your poll idea is actually brilliant, in the same way that the Godwin meme was more about how fast a meme can pervade the internet than it was actually about Nazi references. 2) Don't think for a second that your cookie strategy will work to limit manipulation. I've voted 3 times already from one computer. If you'll forgive the use of some coarse language, I applaud any effort to stir things up. One side has been counting on gaming the system for three elections now. The other side has been counting on people finally getting mad enough to get off their asses and vote. Either way it's not a fair contest until everyone who's had a chance at the polls uses it and your simple question is, in its own way, contributing to that motivation. Poster: Hans Herst Comment: The way this poll has been set up it has the odor of rule by mob manipulation. Thank you for being clear that this poll is not scientific and therefor of little real value. Poster: Elisabeth Roberts Comment: PBS claims And let's keep in mind the purpose of these weekly polls. They invite people who might not ordinarily come to our site to participate, and they encourage people to explore the deep journalism that is offered throughout NOW's nearly 10,000 web pages and 1,000 video streams... However, PBS does not track cookies or IP addresses. So, what is the evidence that this crap encourages people to explore deep journalism? This is fatuous fluff, the result of letting the marketing department take over journalism. One more reason I no longer support PBS. Poster: anna friesen Comment: Shame on PBS for poor forethought. Telling me you chose to run an 'poll' which allowed more than one vote per person because you wanted to protect my privacy rights just doesn't fly. Even considering a vehicle for collecting public OPINION which can be manipulated shows a huge lack of professionalism by PBS. I expect substantive, thoughtful unbiased reporting by PBS. By running a poll that can be manipulated you are only revealing that information has been manipulated. If you, as a reporter want to do a piece on Palin's readiness to lead, don't hope to rely on the results of a manipulated poll; try professional journalism based on real research. Poster: Carol Wright Comment: Why have this poll? Apparently the Right Wingers have had a huge campaign to stuff the ballot box, and I am receiving panicked emails from friends encouraging me to fight back and vote to prevent THEIR ballot box stuffing. These emails on both will continue to make the rounds, perhaps for weeks. Please just take the actual poll down. How could you ever think to get a WISE or meaningful result from this poll especially. The viewers of NOW tend to be deep thinkers, and if the vote were just limited to NOW viewers, you know that the answer would be. The only thing you learned was that this is a hot topic. I expected more from NOW. Actually it would have been interesting, if you collected voting data, to report how many people voted how many times, the originating servers, area of the country, etc. for yes/no votes. Then you could report on the ballot stuffing. OR collect Right Wingers ballot stuffing campaign websites and emails, and same with the panicky emails of the liberals. Poster: Sue Jacobs Comment: I think PBS should not be involved in political polling at all. You receive federal funding and have gotten into financial trouble before when you appear too partisan and political. Several years ago your funding was decreased substantially when there was a Republican majority. Bill Moyers, who instituted the NOW show, quit as spokesperson due to political pressure from what I understand of the situation. Poster: ErickTheRed Comment: Using cookies doesn't cut it. I'm a programmer by trade, and it would be trivial for me to write a program to hit your poll website, get a cookie, vote, then delete the cookie, open a new session and vote again. This is not even a measure of mobilization. If I vote in your poll, and I see that my opinion is in the minority, that will affect my thinking, and may make me want to change my vote. That's simple psychology, so if you're not using scientific polling methods, or worse, are vulnerable to simple attacks, you could actually be affecting opinion, not measuring it. Please stop these nonsensical polls. Poster: joanna Comment: I think PBS should officially repudiate this poll at this stage. It has been subject to manipulation and is not relevant. The over-whelming response to the topic implies to me that PBS should commission a 'serious' and 'scientific' poll on this topic in order to ascertain real voter perceptions. This is a topic too important to be played with by polls that have clearly been manipulated. Poster: ErickTheRed Comment: To call these polls, and to report or rely on them in any way, is misleading and poor journalism. It would be better to say 'Support your candidate' because, as you say in your explanation of the poll, it's really more a measure of mobilization than opinion. So, stop the sham, don't ask for an opinion, since you're not actually measuring that, and for goodness sake, don't report on it. Poster: Barbara Comment: The poll, and your elaborate explanation, still does more to discredit PBS than it does anything or anyone else. If you want to continue soliciting public funds, it's time to revisit the following words: objective, serious, in the public interest. Poster: PsycGirl Comment: This poll has turned into spam. There is no way it is valid. I was able to vote twice. Poster: Kelly Comment: I've come back to check the poll for several weeks now... And each time I come back, the poll still has the same numbers. Weird. Fixed. Can you say publicity stunt for PBS's website? Poster: Hunter Comment: I think it is absurd for you to continue the same poll knowing that initially people voted multiple times. Why not start the poll again using the new mechanism you just put in place. Basically, most of the media is biased. Reporters have opinions and irregardless of the facts, people want to hold on to them and justify them. Hence, several people in the media declaring the Vice-Presidential debate a tie. Poster: Noreen Parks Comment: The explanation for running the Palin poll states: And let's keep in mind the purpose of these weekly polls. They invite people who might not ordinarily come to our site to participate, and they encourage people to explore the deep journalism that is offered... Do you honestly believe that the hordes of right-wingers who jammed the site with yes votes before you changed the rules were there to explore the deep journalism of PBS?? I would say not! Polling is inherently flawed regardless of how it is conducted--the small number of voters sampled among and the restriction of the sampling pool to landline phone-users being just two problems. And yet polls are taken as sacred indicators by the public, and untold numbers of voters are swayed by the results, rather than making sound judgments based on good information. Notwithstanding your disclaimer on the non-scientific nature of the Palin poll, by running an online poll like mainstream media outlets PBS is conferring legitimacy to this dangerously misleading practice. We expect higher journalistic standards from PBS! Poster: Charles Garratt Comment: In a round-a-bout way you admit the poll is a marketing toll to bring traffic to the site. As such, it and other polls are very effective. Anyone who thinks the poll is more than that will already be persuaded one way or the other by biased campaign rhetoric, regardless of this poll. In all honesty, we all know the poll didn't even ask the real question. Just about anyone is qualified to be Vice-president. The real question--is Sarah Palin qualified to become president? That is a real issue that should be seriously considered and debated. Poster: GD Comment: Just take down the poll Poster: Andrew Lowry Comment: This is a very unfortunate situation. These king of polls are basically wothless as the other posters have show. Why did you get involved in such cheap journalism? Poster: Shirley Wolff Comment: You can fool some of the people some of the time.....it's sad that the PBS poll or any other form of communication, which usually gears it's thinking to a more educated and informed public, can be used in such an obvious & deliberate way to distort the truth in terms of it's e-mail polling by a desperate & deceitful (lying)Republican party! I guess I've made my point, you think? I'll take Tina Fey over Sarah Palin, whom I believe, is more qualified to run the government!!! Poster: John Comment: Whatever the poll is about, it should not even show results unless it is accurate. Placing cookies is no guarantee either. The average user can delete cookies and re-vote. Some spyware software deletes cookies automatically! I agree with BEV, NOW can do better. Poster: Ken Forbus Comment: This 'poll' is a joke. It is trivial to delete cookies. You should be embarassed about it: Do you really think it is a good use of people's time to 'mobilize' for an easily cracked poll that only measures whether people are smart enough to remove cookies? All this poll tells me is that your organization doesn't know much about computers, and is unprofessional enough to report on 'results' that actually cannot measure that you purport that they measure. [A measure of incompetence: standard quotation marks lead to a MySQL error. Jeepers, surely you can do better than that!] Poster: David Sears Comment: Your instant polls are useless. They don't even show the results of group mobilization in any scientific way. They are just another distraction from the issues to the horse race, the bread and butter of news organizations. In other words, they do not serve the public; they only serve yourselves. David Sears Poster: John Comment: It's wrong to imply that, now that you use cookies, it's one person, one vote. It's so easy to get around that by clearing cookies, either manually or with a program. The fact is that there is no sure way to make a poll like this remotely accurate, and it's important that those participating in it know that. Even more important is that the poll results never be taken out of context (for example, reported on on TV). John Poster: Rochelle Comment: I have been forwarded this poll several times now with the dire warning that the Right Wing will use it to sway voters, or voters in swing states will be influenced by it, etc. So I have dutifully voted and it's always about even - 49%/49%. I think this is a silly gimmick to drive people to your website. I can't imagine anyone being influenced by the results, and if they are influenced they don't deserve to vote. People who are set on voting for McCain/Palin won't give a hoot what a PBS poll says. And it says nothing, by the way - just how many times people have clicked a mouse. You guys should be above this. Poster: Joseph G Comment: 1) Of course this poll isn't scientific. You weren't trying to get a sample of the whole qualified population, you were trying to get votes from people that actually pay attention to NOW and PBS. 2) The reason people are still voting, is because they realise that NOW is an anti-conservative movement that is biased against anyone or anything that is still trying to live a life with any sort of Judeo-Christian values. 3) PBS is a dissappointment, because MY tax dollars go to their coffers, and they don't portray balanced views. 4) Govenor Sarah Palin has more executive experience than Senator Obama does, so in that sense, she is more qualified to be President than he is, much less to be the VP. 5) Constitutionally, the only qualification to be president is to be a Naturlized American and to be, what, 35 years old? 6) Is NANCY PELOSI qualified to be president? She is the 3rd person in line... Poster: Mary Comment: Quite funny to think that an intelligent person would believe you have an IT staff that didn't know about cookies until a little while ago.. What's next? A cookie that you drop on a computer once someone provides any conservative vote so you can restrict their future votes all together??? What a joke! Poster: Lorri Curto Comment: Your comments about the poll now being 'about mobilization' leaves me wondering what's wrong with that. Isn't that what any election is about, mobilizing people who care and are motivated to actually get out and vote. I find it interesting that when the poll was only of people who are traditionally part of the PBS audience it was believed to be fair (in spite of the fact that members of that audience define themselves as liberal and identify with the Democratic party more than the Republican) but when those who are more conservative became aware of the poll and participated your organization began to express concern about whether the results truly reflected the opinions of the American people as a whole. The liberal bias of the media is not a theory, it is reality. However, the conservative bent of average Americans is also a reality and I think that the election will show that (in spite of the media's vested interest in electing a distinctly unqualified presidential candidate) John McCain, who is clearly the more qualified candidate, will emerge victorious. Poster: RobG1010101 Comment: You method of collection explains the discrepancy of a tie in this poll. Everyone who knows how to turn a computer on, knows how to manipulate cookies. It's as simple as using Firefox and turning off cookie accumulation. Then all one needs to do is copy and paste the address in a fresh browser page each time to register another vote. I was wondering how in the world Palin could be tied with Biden. After the poor public performance Palin has made on several occasions now, I started to worry that the human race was falling apart and unable to think. With the republicans no-education, keep them stupid policy, of course, this could still be the case. All I can say is God help us if McCain/Palin are elected. This country is already in the shi**er, imagine what it will be like with someone twice as bad as George Bush. Poster: Jean Standish Comment: The Sarah Palin poll was unfortunate, considering the unscientific manner in which it was presented. PBS made a huge blunder with this and should have limited it to one person, one vote. When I saw the figures of 49 percent to 49 percent, I realized that the exercise was a farce. Also, I have enjoyed reading the entries comparing Senator Obama to Sarah Palin. It gives new meaning to the word experience. For those who need a taste of Palin's experience they should view the Couric/Palin interviews. Frightening! And, of course, she brought her toxic syntax and circuitous verbiage to the debate, which was only declared a success because she did not fall flat on her face. Poster: michael pugliese Comment: Live Votes on msnbc.com The differences between online surveys and scientific polls One week in the middle of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, more than 200,000 people took part in an msnbc.com Live Vote that asked whether President Clinton should leave office. Seventy-three percent said yes. That same week, an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll found that only 34 percent of about 2,000 people who were surveyed thought so. More recently, in an msnbc.com survey conducted after a televised debate in the run-up to the New Hampshire primary, when asked “Who stood out from the pack?†76 percent of the more than 55,000 people who responded chose Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. This indicated strong support for Paul among msnbc.com readers. Story continues below ↓advertisement But it revealed nothing about how voters in New Hampshire, or other states, intended to vote in primary elections. In the week prior to the New Hampshire primary, polls indicated that anywhere between five percent and 14 percent of likely voters in the Republican primary intended to cast their ballots for Paul. On Election Day, Paul got about eight percent of the votes cast in the New Hampshire GOP primary. To explain the gap in the numbers in this and other similar cases, let’s consider the differences in the two kinds of surveys. Polls Journalists and political strategists use polls to gauge what the public is thinking. The most statistically accurate picture is captured by using a randomly selected sample of individuals within the group that is being targeted, such as those likely to vote in a presidential primary election. While a poll of 100 people will be more accurate than a poll of 10, studies have shown that accuracy begins to improve less at about 500 people and increases only a minor amount beyond 1,000 people. So, in the case of that NBC-WSJ poll, only 2,005 adults were surveyed by the polling organizations of Peter D. Hart and Robert M. Teeter. The poll was conducted by telephone and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. The confidence level means that if the same poll were conducted 100 times, each one randomly selecting the people polled, only five of the polls would be expected to yield results outside the margin of error. In the NBC-WSJ survey, pollsters first randomly selected a number of geographic areas and then telephone numbers were generated in a way that allowed all numbers in those areas (both listed and unlisted) an equal chance to be called. Only one adult in each household was then selected to answer the poll. Online Surveys In contrast, msnbc.com's online surveys — or Live Votes — may reflect the views of more individuals, but they are not necessarily representative of the general population. And they may be even less representative of those people who are registered to vote and who do in fact vote. To begin with, the people who respond to online surveys choose to do so — they are not randomly selected and asked to participate, but instead make the choice to read a story about a certain topic and then vote on a related question. They may be highly motivated supporters of a particular candidate who are determined to show their support for him or her in any way they can. And while Live Votes are designed to allow only one vote per user, someone who wants to vote more than once can use another computer or another Internet account. Live Votes are not intended to be a scientific sample of opinion. Instead, they are part of the same dialogue that takes place in our online chat sessions: a way to share your views on the news with your fellow users and with msnbc.com writers and editors. Let us know what you think. Poster: Sharon Moddelmog Comment: I think this poll is an incredibly bad idea. It is something that Fox News or Rush Limbaugh would do and then claim the results were legit. PBS and NOW will end up being disgraced by this mess. The right will say if they lose that you fixed it since you are the epitome of the liberal media; if they win they'll use it to legitimize the candidancy of their supremely unqualified candidate! I can't believe anyone at your organization ever thought this would be a good idea and you have lost a great deal of credibility with me! Did anyone ask Bill Moyers what he thought? Poster: Linda Lander Comment: I had already voted when I received a message from a friend telling me the real story and sending the URL for your explanation. I just checked again and the poll site it's still up. Just because it isn't a part of your site doesn't make any sense; why not take it down altogether? I like PBS and watch your programs often. I thought it was a bit unusual for PBS to take this kind of poll. However, I wonder how many of the people who sound really incensed about it are Republican Palin fans. I haven't seen nor heard any complaints about the outrageous, character assinations of Obama TV ads that the party just came out with today. Negative campaigning is a waste of time and money and only works if people are willing to believe anything as long as their candidate gets elected, but this latest attack goes beyone anything negative. It's the most corrupt, deceiving bit of misinformatnion I've seen in any election, even the current one. I don't understand why character assination that is totally untrue is not a criminal offense that Obama could sue to stop. The American election system is broken in more ways than one and it's shameful for all of us. Poster: Mary Bouchard Comment: These online polls are silly, and easily hacked to jack up the numbers in one direction or another. One evening I watched a Wall Street Journal online poll, and the numbers increased by about 20,000 over a period of about a half hour. They would show huge increases for one presidential candidate, then huge increases for the other. In the end, the only poll that counts is the one that adds one more number when we pull the lever down in the election booth (or however it is people vote these days...) Poster: Walter Comment: You're wasting your time doing this kind of trash, which, as idicated by many others, is not a poll in the scientific sense, disclaimers nonewithstanding. Local radio stations do this kind of thing with little consequence, but to put the PBS brand on this nonsense is disappointing. You should know better. ... and your program does have a problem with quote marks .. which I used around POLL to emphasize the misleading usage. Poster: Peter Goodwin Comment: It is surprising to learn that a news organization which takes itself seriously to conduct an unscientific poll as part of its operation. This is a mindless exercise which you should discontinue. Poster: Caroline Comment: If you are using cookies, people can still erase cookies from their browsers and vote again (does anyone does NOT know how to do it?). If you are getting their IP addresses, they can use proxys to access using another IP address and vote again. One can even do a program to automatically vote yes or no automatically. There are emails circulatng asking people to vote both Yes and No and anyone can do one of the things I mentioned. This poll is no longer credible! Poster: Pat T Comment: Now that the poll is a dead heat of 49% to 49% why not retire it and admit it was a bad idea to begin with. Poster: Archie Comment: You have to be careful what you ask for, since you just might get a lot more than you ever imagined. I hope you enjoy posting all the comments from the wingnuts of both sides. Frankly, the idea of PBS doing an online poll for anything puts PBS in the class of whacko and pandering journalism, and from my perspective out of the running for any contributions on my part. Poster: Vince Comment: What the hell is PBS doing putting up a poll like this? I am a lifelong Democrat and no friend of Gov. Palin, but I think this poll shows a clear PBS bias against the Republican ticket. PBS should stick to reporting, try to get the facts right, and leave bald partisanship to the cable networks. Poster: Obama Mama Comment: If you throw out your cookies - you can vote more than once. Every time I think of Sarah Palin I feel like tossing my cookies. Poster: Jim Comment: Your Sarah Palin polling site said this is not a scientific poll. If it is not scientific, and thus has no value, why is PBS doing it? This is something local TV stations do just to get people to go to their web site and for entertainment. As a life long PBS supporter, I'm disappointed. Poster: Totally Pissed off Comment: I promise never to ever donate any money ever to any PBS affiliate. I also intend to write every legislator I know to end PBS. I have supported PBS in the past. The Sarah Palin poll and the stupid manner in which you promote it, is not helpful. PBS can go to hell. Poster: dojoro Comment: So it goes for polls. Poster: Joan R. Comment: I am very disappointed that PBS considers using unscientific polling. In fact, polls in general do more harm than good. Please maintain your journalistic integrity. Poster: Melissa Comment: I have had it up to here with the media bashing any woman who is in the race for the White House. I, a democrat, find your poll to be shamefully disrespectful. Where is your poll asking if Obama is qualified to be in the White House? How about Biden? Your sexism is on an unfortunate par with network television. Poster: Lidgie Comment: Why would you want to contribute to the further deterioration of journalism as a serious occupation? Your whole concept is offensive, because if one thinks a person nominated through the democratic process is unfit, it is always possible to vote for that candidate's opponent in the race. This effort to bully someone out of the race is infuriating. Poster: Noz Spryer Comment: It is just a waste of time to run these polls. They just clog up the Internet. Why don't you run a real statistically valid poll if you want information? For instance, I received a chain email: ''PBS has an online poll posted asking if Sarah Palin is qualified. Apparently the right wing knew about this in advance and are flooding the voting with YES votes. The poll will be reported on PBS and picked up by mainstream media. It can influence undecided voters in swing states. Please do two things -- takes 20 seconds. > 1) Click on link and vote yourself. Here's the link: http://www.pbs.org/now/polls/poll-435.html > 2) Then send this to every single Obama-Biden voter you know, and urge them to vote and pass it on. The last thing we need is PBS saying their viewers think Sarah Palin is qualified.'' Anyone who has any brains at all would not use this poll to determine Palin's qualification. It just promotes spam and uses up bandwidth. Be more responsible. Stop running these ''polls.'' Let CNN, Fox, and MSNBC run them - they use vapid stuff like this as news anyway. Poster: Allen Hoban Comment: And do you have a poll titled 'Is Barack Obama qualified to be President?' Or is it only women who need to be scrutinized? How about a poll titled 'Has Joe Biden run for office too many times?' Maybe 'Has Barack Obama ever answered a question?' Perhaps 'Is Barack Obama a closet Communist?' Methinks the editors at NOW are in the tank for the Obama person. Poster: sam Comment: The fact that the vote is split 49/49--very different from results we've seen from recent scientific polls asking about Palin's qualifications--should tell you what a waste of time this is for PBS and its viewers. You may tell people this is not a scientific poll but most, in my opinion, will not focus on that fact, only on the numbers. Poster: pamela Comment: This poll is a bother and serves no person, except, perhaps to get people to this website. I guess if this was your goal NOW has succeeded... For most of the rest of us, it's been a bad waste of time and energy. It feels stupid and i'm disappointed in NOW promoting it. Poster: Ellen Kimball Comment: Today is October 8, 2008. Your poll about Ms. Palin has just been discovered by posters at our relatively small website -- http://www.oldelmtree.com This poll is completely misleading. There are no dates on it. It is not clear when it started or when it ended. We do not understand the results (or is the poll still being conducted?) We are reading 49%-49% -- or a tie. Are these the final results? How many people have voted? What is the status of this poll? Is it still active from early September 2008? Cordially, Ellen Kimball http://ellenkimball.blogspot(DOT)com (Registered Washington County Democrat, Portland, Oregon) Radio_Lady(AT)comcast.net Poster: MikeBC Comment: google chrome incognito window x 10000000 . . . = useless poll Poster: Ken Comment: I personally feel that this poll is inappropriate (and I am not a Sarah Palin supporter). Poster: Herb Whittier Comment: Hey-- I just went to the poll and before selecting yes or no I checked one of the items below that said something about the poll.. took me to your page.. then I went back to vote and it said I already had and couldn't again. Well I didn't. And I don't think that Sarah Palin is qualified in I would be very afraid to have some one who thinks that God does it all and who has been a member of a religious subunit that speaks in voices anywhere near the white house (And I suspect that there are some there right now.) This is very serious folks. NO, NO, No. Not qualified Poster: barbara speer Comment: This is beneath your level of dignity. The poll is meaningless as I see it explained. I don't know why PBS is doing this. It's a distortion of reality. Poster: Elaine Comment: I'll bet if you put Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf on this poll he would win. PBS, shame on you. Poster: Good Listener Comment: The fact that the mainstream media will very likely use the results of what you admit to be a non-scientific poll is quite disturbing. This election is too important to facilitate unsupported data circulating in the media and influencing voters. I am dismayed to find NPR feeding into and consequently perpetuating ignorant practices. This poll is akin to voting for Homecoming Queen. Please take the election more seriously than that. Your members and listeners expect more from you, NPR. Poster: Scott Miller Comment: As a long time fan of Bill Moyers, a regular viewer of NOW, and a professional policy analyst, I deplore this poll. Most people don't know that when you say it's not scientific, what you mean is that it is mathematically meaningless. As you admit, it measures nothing except people's willingness to spend their time mobilizing like-minded people -- or their children -- to visit a website. Unfortunately, that's not what the results will be used for. They will be spun as a referendum on Sarah Palin. This seems to be nothing but a cynical way to create some marketing buzz for NOW. Poster: Good Listener Comment: The fact that the mainstream media will very likely use the results of what you admit to be a non-scientific poll is quite disturbing. This election is too important to facilitate unsupported data circulating in the media and influencing voters. I am dismayed to find NPR feeding into and consequently perpetuating ignorant practices. This poll is akin to voting for Homecoming Queen. Please take the election more seriously than that. Your members and listeners expect more from you, NPR. Poster: Natalie Dyen Comment: What's the point of an unscientific, voluntary poll? It's about as reliable as having pharmaceutical companies test new drugs on any self-selected group of volunteers that happen to show up. And just as dangerous. Poster: Deborah Drexler Comment: It woudl be interesting to know the number of total votes. Is it more like 200 or 2000 or 20,000? This poll is interesting not for what it says about sarah palin but for what it says about voters and their use of new communication technologies. Poster: Monica Comment: Now, that the poll shows that the majority of America like Palin, you liberals say its not fair. What a shame! Poster: F Barron Comment: I just wondered how do you get to see the latest poll results once voting is done? Was there another link? Poster: Tim Corica Comment: This poll is a terrible idea. Online polls can be badly skewed, and this one is certain to give unreliable results. However, reporters will use the results anyway. Please don't run the poll at all. If the numbers are high for Palin, it could simply be because Republican supporters rounded up a bunch of people to click in. But reporters will say Even NPR folks say Palin is qualified!. If the numbers are low for Palin, it could simply be because Democrat supports do the same, or because NPR supporters tend to be Democrats. In any case, reporters can correctly say that the results are meaningless. If the poll is, as you say, unscientific, then please don't run the poll at all! Thank you, Tim Corica Poster: MC Comment: I just voted twice from the same computer using two different web browsers. I could vote from other computers, too. I guess what I'm getting at is that just by fixing one aspect of a problem people doesn't necessarily mean you fool-proofed it. But, stepping back a little, I'm really involved in politics and had not heard about this poll for over a month since it was launched. It's not important why; these things just happen. But the fact that whoever gets in early on these things has the advantage IS important. In other words, if one candidate's supporters get an early hold, they start spreading the word earlier. It's like compounding interest--here, the early birds have more similar votes coming in. Partly because of this, I don't find this poll valuable or useful. In fact, it's potentially dangerous, like a dull knife. Poster: Kay Comment: You should remove this poll - rather than go on and on about how the poll was flawed at first but then you fixed it, just take it down and start a new poll. One that's accurate from the beginning. Poster: Peter Comment: Well, aside from the poll, which obviously has it's issues ... I find the conversation in the comments section, here, to be a shining example of how polarized we are as a nation. Even though you acknowledge on your front page there, the situation with this poll, it's interesting to see how quickly people are showing you how wrong you are for doing this poll, and how inaccurate it is, and how qualified, not qualified, Palin might be.. and all the other judgements thrown at you. This is an experiment of it's own. Bravo to you. I see little hope for us as a people, if we don't read things thoroughly and actually think and ponder about things, instead of having some sort of knee jerk reaction to the right or the left. To the educated, to the joe sixpacks. We all need some Electric Company Re-runs, and a few minutes a day with Mr. Rogers. Seriously. peace Poster: Bonnie Swerdlow Comment: If you're going to share the results of any poll with the media, the poll should be scientific, and not subject to cheating! Poster: Mary Lee Comment: Given the shallow nature of this poll, the only justification for attempting an effort like other networks is that NOW believes polling like this interests voters in other more developed material such as website interviews. I'm still a little skeptical and believe this kind of poll feeds into media reporting meaningless polls the results of which (in spite of being meaningless) still have the effect of swaying voters who have not taken the time to inform themselves of the issues particularly economic. The presidency should not be a popularity contest- we had that already with the Bush elections! Poster: Fred Olson Comment: I urge PBS to stop conducting such polls that are subject to manipulation. Or at least not publicize the results of any poll that you are aware has been manipulated by partisans on the topic organizing votes on the topic. Cookies can be deleted and therefore do not guarantee that people do not vote repeatedly. Poster: Rose Comment: How can I see the poll results without voting> Poster: L Comment: Poll results do change minds. Please, PBS, be responsible about this. Leave the polling to the professional polling organizations that use valid, reliable methodology. Better yet, substitute solid information about the candidates for the speculation of people who only care what other uninformed people think. I expect more from PBS. Poster: bounce33 Comment: A poll such as this is pointless, meaningless information. Please don't foster the idea that such polls have any validity by running one on PBS. they are done simply to generate talk and eyeballs on screen. I am so sick of fake journalism. Poster: debra Comment: I think NOW is no place for this kind of junky journalism. I have SO much respect for NOW's programming that I was shocked to learn about the Palin poll. You don't have to drive traffic to your site with shlock gimmicks. You should not, either. You risk misleading people about polling (I agree wholeheartedly with the visitors to your site that you should do reporting on polling) and wasting their valuable time. Please, continue to take the high journalistic road that has made NOW credible. WWBMS - what would Bill Moyers say??? Poster: Elizabeth Comment: I just received an email that was being mass mailed to any possible Palin supporters with a request that they, in turn, pass it on. The email contains a link to your site and plea urging recipients to vote in favor of Palin. I doubt that they will be watching the video first! Poster: Diana Comment: PBS seems years behind on privacy issues. Your cookie is anonymous; internet users are comfortable with those now, given the benefits they offer. Here they would have immeasurably improved the information conveyed by the survey. All you would need is the briefest of disclosures, like 'Limit 1 response per computer IP address.Only this anonymous IP address information will be collected and it will be used only for this purpose.' Especially since you're PBS. Poster: Nancy Comment: Remove it completely from the website. It is now the captive of massive emailings like a chain letters and wasting so many people's time receiving reading and voting then to discover that it is irrelevant as no longer active on website. Plus it is overwhelming your website. Poster: Mary Jo Comment: Please remove the (open quotation marks) poll (close quotation marks)...it's below you. Poster: Jack Comment: So, it's better to run an invalid poll than to not run a poll at all. Only an extreme liberal could could have such a lack if integrita/ethics. Poster: Alex Comment: Online polls are incredibly unreliable to begin with, but that doesn't stop news organizations from putting them on their websites. Here's an example of a simple poll question which has, basically, three simple answers, and people from BOTH major political parties have been able to manipulate the results. What purpose does it serve to continue with this poll at this point? Poster: Bruce Comment: 'Your first vote for this poll has been registered. Any subsequent vote will not be counted. This is not a scientific poll.' More eloquent arguments have already been made, thankfully. Sad (and in these volatile times, a bit scary) to see PBS lowering its standards and committing journalistic laziness. Poster: Jim Giffin Comment: I used to spend a lot of time listening to PBS. No longer do I do so. You have lost any symbolence of neutral reporting and the Sarah Palin poll is one example. Sen. Obama has not undergone the same level of criticism from the press about qualifications and he is running FOR the presidency, not the heartbeat away VP that Palin is a candidate for. I agree that you need some sort of cookie like device to limit the multiple vote issue. However, you need to do it from the beginning or drop all votes occurring before the implementation of the one machine-one vote method. Poster: Kevin Remillard Comment: Using publicly financed websites for your personal amusement, such as the Palin Poll, speaks volumes about your .org! Poster: Barb Roos Comment: How about withdrawing the poll - quote some of these opinions in explaining why. Then follow up during coming months with a series of academically-valid commentaries about why & how & under what circumstances civil society has been weakened rather than strengthened by interactive media. Poster: Holly Comment: We live in the 'Age of Information'. However, as experience has taught us, not all information is created equally. Research tools such as Wikipedia can be altered so that they contain incorrect information. News organizations can instantaneously report on events that no one completely understands, without all the facts. And, 'viral' emails and videos can spark debates about things that no one cares about until, seemingly, everyone is talking about them. My problem with your poll is simply this: it is not scientific. As such, it should NEVER be used in any way that could be construed as being true, accurate, or even an anecdotal snapshot of America. This is tainted information, and all news organizations that reported rely upon facts should stay away. Let ‘Entertainment Tonight’ and like programs use these kinds of polls about how popular Brittany or Brangelina is at the moment...NOW should not pollute the ‘America’s Network’ with such filth. After all, you're not supposed to be tabloid journalists, are you? Poster: Wendy H. Comment: These kinds of polls are ridiculous and meaningless. They reflect nothing except the obsessiveness of the people answering the questions. There is no science behind this whatsoever. What's the point? Oh wait, you get a lot of hopped-up people coming to your website. The number hits must be astounding. Silly me. No, I won't give you money and don't send me an umbrella. Poster: Beverly Lynes Comment: Is any poll scientific? The questions are designed to elicit a specific response. Most questions are designed in such a way as to solicit a specific response. They determine an outcome and then design the questionnaire to guarantee the end result. Polling and campaigning have become an end unto themselves. There is no such thing as fair representation today. The press is biased. Opinion is represented as fact and the American public depends on 10 second sound bites to make their decision about their next President and Vice President. Small wonder we are in the mess we are in. And if McCain and Obama are the best this country has to offer, we are hurting as a nation and deserve exactly what we get. Poster: Tim Comment: Can I suggest a legitimate, best-practices poll conducted by a credible, experienced polling service? Otherwise, you leave yourself open to manipulations from either or both sides. Poster: Margaret Comment: I received an email about this poll today indicating that rightwing groups were enlisting their members to answer 'yes' in order to win a quasi-endorsement of Sarah Palin from PBS. What are you doing to ensure that this poll is free from manipulations from either side? If it's just a free-for-all for whomever has time to game the system, it's not much a poll...and there's a lot at stake. Poster: Diana Comment: Everything was just fine in your poll as long as your liberal following were the only ones voting. Now conservatives have started to vote, and all of a sudden, it is no longer a good indication! Same ole, same ole!!!!! Pathetic!!! Poster: Mike Comment: This. Poll. Means. NOTHING. I've received the emails linking to this poll to favor the results one way or another. PBS has also published an article acknowledging the poll's manipulation and lack of reliability, yet it still plans to use the results. Rather than use it for a piece about opinions, please do a story about facts. The results should be used for a story about how such polls are inherently invalid. Tell us about how questions are carefully worded, how follow up questions are used for clarification and verification of other answers, how statistics can be interpreted to support various arguments. This is the kind of information that people should be getting from a news organization. News should be reporting information to people to let them know what is happening and help them to make INFORMED opinions. Simply asking for uninformed opinions as you have done undermines your purpose and your standing as a reputable establishment. Poster: Kevin C Comment: The two things appear to a bit unnerving about your poll concerning Governor Palin. 1) Why are we not polling about all four people and the two positions that are seeking? 2) What do you think are criteria by which someone should be judged? Given that you have only selected one individual shows a bit of possible [chuckle] bias by PBS about the election and Governor Palin. How about possibly making clear that the role is NOT a legislative role [like Senator, Congressman], but part of the executive branch [like a Mayor, Governor] who actually has a very special role / say / vote on many issues. If we take that as one possibly key facet of the many aspects of a VP I would indicate that Governor Palin is the only one of the persons in question who has any elected experience running anything at any level of government. Certainly we did not bash Bill Clinton because he came form a very minor state of this fine Union, but instead his years of leading that fine [but rather unimportant] state was put up as one key capability of the then Governor Clinton. The main difference between a Senator / Congressman and a Governor is that the Governor can never vote present on anything. They can never hide behind the group, never take credit for what others have written by just signing onto something, or declare that it was not their idea when a bill they signed was found wanting. So, realizing that none of the candidates have done the jobs they are seeking at all, and therefore all are in question. Why again did we just pick out the one female in the group, Governor Palin? Poster: devora Comment: Shame on PBS for trying to spice up their news w/ a cheap, meaningless poll. Even worse is your lame attempt to justify it, move it, tweak it to make it work. It can't work, period. Ask Palin for an interview, as suggested earlier here, and if she refuses have a ball presenting the facts about her. THAT would be news. I don't come to PBS for excitement, and your attempt at hotting up is about as appealing as a 60 yr old woman in fish nets and a leather mini. Please PBS, do not have a middle-aged crisis! Poster: Jan Comment: This is a dangerous business, conducting a poll of voluntary responses. It will be heavily weighted, as each side tries to get as many of their sympathizers as possible to click in. Though you admit on your site that the poll is not scientific, the results will get out to the general public who won't see, or will ignore, that disclaimer. The poll will be given the weight of authority by the good reputations of PBS and NOW. I'm disappointed in you both. Poster: Doug Roper Comment: Internet polls such as this are a complete waste of time and energy. They are NOT scientific, they are partisan manipulated, and prove absolutely NOTHING. I'm disappointed that your NOW/PBS Editors aren't intelligent enough to know this. (All you are REALLY doing is making a selfish attempt to drive traffic to your website.) Poster: Mark Abrams Comment: Unscienific polls are nothing new - people ask opinions all the time. For PBS, or any other organization, to draw conclusions, publish results or publicly use these unscientific polls in any way is a grievous breach of the public trust. How can a publicly funded organization even think about creating mis-information for the public? If it wants to be anything other than a public service, it should turn down public funding. Poster: Mike HImowitz Comment: John Siceloff should be ashamed of himself. I have been a journalist for almost four decades, and in that capacity I spent several years in the 1980s and 1990s conducting public opinion surveys for the late Baltimore Evening Sun. We would never have dignified this kind of brainless online clicking contest by calling it a poll. Even with fine print disclaimers that it's not scientific. Here are two real life examples of why it's such a bad idea. Over the objections of the people involved my own newspaper's legitimate polling (which we spent serious money to conduct in accordance with the principles of scientific sampling), the powers-that-be set up a pre-Internet, dial-in feature known as 'It's Your Call.' They typically used it get reader response to important questions such as, 'Do you think Cal Ripken should be moved from shortstop to third base?' Or 'Is Madonna a good role model for teenage girls?' The brass were shamed into killing the feature after they used it to ask a serious political question and found out that the governor of Maryland had ordered the flacks for every state department to flood the dial-in line with the response he wanted. Those with long memories may also recall People Magazine's 1998 online poll to select the 50 most beautiful Americans. The runaway winner was the late Henry Joseph Nasiff Jr., better known as Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf, one of the oddball characters who enlivened Howard Stern's radio show. Stern asked his audience to click for Hank, and they literally took over the voting. Now, a decade later, we have armies of partisans on each side clicking for the political version of the same beauty contest. Siceloff's assertion that it's okay to conduct this kind of junk online polling because CNN and USA Today do it hardly encourages me to regard the show as a responsible guardian of the body politic. We don't expect The New York Times to run front page stories about Elvis sightings and say it's okay because The National Enquirer does it. But here's the worst offense. After admitting online that the poll is scientific junk, and acknowledging that it has become nothing more than a magnet for the crazies of ther right and left, the Now Web site has left the 'polling page' online -- even though it's only available through a direct URL and not through the main Web page. It's a bit like convenience stores hiding the Penthouses behind the counter -- it's stuff you're ashamed to display but more than happy to sell to people who know where to look for it. I learned about the Palin Poll today when I received a frantic mass e-mail from a Democratic friend urging fellow partisans to click 'No' on the Is-Palin-qualified question. His fear was that the Republicans were massing thousands of 'Yes' clickers. And that's what's still happening. My friend wrote, 'The poll will be reported on PBS and picked up by mainstream media. It can influence undecided voters in swing states . . . The last thing we need is PBS saying their viewers think Sarah Palin is qualified.' That's the problem. No matter how much backpedaling and sidestepping you do, basically you're endorsing this kind of shoddy journalism with the PBS brand. Why? Because you don't want to spend the money on a real poll? Or is it be the thousands, or maybe tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of extra page views you can generate by leaving this piece of raw meat out there for the political pit bulls to fight over? I guess that's Show Biz in the Digital Age. (One other technical matter ... the software that processes these comments chokes on ASCII quotation marks) Poster: chris Comment: what's tragic about this poll is that it is meaningless - and is likely to turn off people that are not engaged in the election...at the very time when we should be getting everyone engaged. silly. pbs should be ashamed. Poster: Ben Comment: I agree with a previous post - the only answer to this poll is 100% yes according to the constitution she is qualified (unless you interpret the constitution to say one must be male to be president). The question 'is she ready to be president' has been debated in this post - look at Obama 20 months ago when he declared - in the last two months Palin has studied and spoken to leaders and has been coached so that in another two months Palin will be more ready than Obama to execute the office of President. Poster: Les Comment: Sarah Palin is more qualified than Abraham Lincoln when he became president. Governors who become presidents or vice presidents usually don't have a lot of foreign policy experience, so we shouldn't berate Sarah Palin for lack of knowledge in that area. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were deficient in that area, too, when they became president. I'm glad Republicans may have the first woman vice president. I agree with Leanne that fairness demands you do a similar poll on Barack Obama's qualifications. Sarah Palin has a lot more experience than he does. Does that mean, all you Palin detractors, that he too is not qualified to be president? That would seem to be the logical implication. The question then becomes: Would you rather have an inexperienced president and an experienced vice president or an experienced president and a less experienced vice president? I for one would rather have the latter combination. Sarah Palin is a quick learner and could soon be up to her position as vice president. Barack Obama is also a quick learner, but I don't think he compares with John McCain at all in terms of experience. Poster: Lucinda Comment: I think we need to STOP talking about the idiotic ramblings of Palin and START talking about Obama! I can't believe NOW is wasting everyone's time in this way. Poster: John Comment: It is now obvious that your software will not permit the vote to go over 49 % for Sarah since it has been stuck on 49 to 49 for three days. Poster: Melody Stevens Comment: As a democrat I feel surprised at PBS's negative attitude toward several canadates. If you are questioning my statement listen to some yourselves! We are never in question as to whom you support. Couldn't you just let us choose by just reporting the news about the canidates. Allow us to listen to them and decide for ourselves. I get fed up with you leaning toward a canidate and expecting me to follow! I wish you had the integerity of the Christian Science reporters. They report and allow us to decide, no rhetoric or opinion on their own! Poster: Sean Burns Comment: The display of ignorance on this forum is staggering. Both parties are the same, Palin is just window dressing. Even if McCain were to be elected and die in office, Palin would still be nothing more than a puppet that will be manipulated by the real rulers of the united states, big business. Whether or not she is qualified is a moot point. Palin is just one more attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the people. I am not a democrat, I dont affiliate myself with any political party, but I will vote for Obama. Regardless of the fact that the democrats and republicans are essentially the same party, Obama is at least attempting to break away from the cycle of corruption. To discuss the validity of Sarah Palin, implies that she should be a real determining factor in this election. Sarah Palin is a distraction. Poster: John Comment: Why didn't you ask this question when John Edwards ran for VP? He didn't have as much experience as Sarah P. Neither does Barak. Remember, a leopard cannot change its stripes, so since everybody knows that this poll is sponsored by liberals, stop playing games. Poster: jcunni Comment: Whew!! I almost didn't get to the bottom of the page. After reading most of the comments I wanted to quit. However, the issues we are faced with go far beyond race, impropriety, abortion rights and just plain lying. These issues have been with our nation as well as others for ages. Our assessment of the most viable candidate must begin with the ability of that person to deal with the various factions that threaten or are defeating the system that has been so carefully protected and guarded for the last 140 years. Unless we face the fact that these factions are within and without, targeting a nation that has been divided purposely by using it's economical base as a springboard, we will lose the battle. The last 10 years must speak for themselves under this scenario, and we should act accordingly with our voting power. Many of those above are restricting their emotions to locality and culture, well whether we like it or not we must embrace the many facets of human needs within the nation without trying to maintain a one group one facet image and level. There is room for all but it will take a person of open vision to aid in achieving that level. Poster: Dave Sutton Comment: You disgrace the research industry to even call this a poll. ANY sampling of opinion from SELF-SELECTED respondents is useless, for all the reasons you detail yet your conclusion is that you want to use it not as a valid measure of opinion, but to attract people to your web site in the hope they will then seek something of substance. This is a very poor (not to say grossly misleading and manipulatable) tool for any legitmate purpose. Poster: Midge Brenize Comment: I think she a breath off new air that this country needs.Lets face it the same as ususals have messed it up on both sides. I think she deserves a change. I am sure it will be much better. Poster: Diane from Central California Comment: I think all these polls here, on CNN, on my local TV station where the phrasing of the questions is especially idiotic, are ridiculous. I read a few of the comments here and am shocked to see people expressing their opinions about the candidates when they should be doing their best to get these polls removed. That voters would bother to jam up the website to vote on the Palin poll strikes me as being like trying to cheer louder than the opposition's fans at a sporting event. Who cares? Time would be better spent reading the comments of respected journalists and weighing the issues. Has the whole country become completely sophomoric? Please find another way to attract people to your website. Poster: Ian Page-Echols Comment: Please don't do polls that could in any way be seen to hurt or help politicians through public influence. People believe these things! Unless they are scientifically done, polls are utter bs. Even if they are done scientifically, they are open to opinion on what they actually mean. Unless you're going to give huge efforts to make something like this be scientific AND give the full information on how people are responding in order that opinions can be made by the end viewer, please STOP POLLING! Thanks for listening, Ian Poster: Laura Graumann Comment: But for the fact that this is PBS and I have respect for NOW, I would not have responded. And I did so only reluctantly - since I think that the respondents are self-selected and the outcome is therefore not particularly meaningful. In fact I only responded because I received an email that members of the other party are flooding this poll in an effort to gain some PR from it. Poster: Sean Burns Comment: The display of ignorance on this forum is staggering. Both parties are the same, Palin is just window dressing. Even if McCain were to be elected and die in office, Palin would still be nothing more than a puppet that will be manipulated by the real rulers of the united states, big business. Whether or not she is qualified is a moot point. Palin is just one more attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the people. I am not a democrat, I dont affiliate myself with any political party, but I will vote for Obama. Regardless of the fact that the democrats and republicans are essentially the same party, Obama is at least attempting to break away from the cycle of corruption. To discuss the validity of Sarah Palin, implies that she should be a real determining factor in this election. Sarah Palin is a distraction. Poster: Jenny Comment: Just thought you would like to know I got this email today: A 'vote' is being taken by NOW on PBS, expecting that their 80% liberal viewers will dominate. Let's prove that wrong. Send to every non-liberal you know. Let's get some balance into the voting group. This is the easiest vote you will ever make. It takes literally two seconds. Let's turn this around!!! PBS has a short video on Sarah Palin on their website. Also included is a poll that asks: Is Sarah Palin qualified to be VP? I logged on a few minutes ago and 38% percent had voted YES, 60% NO. Let's turn this around..... You don't have to give your name or email address in order to vote. It's very simple. Here's the link: http://www.pbs.org/now/polls/poll-435.html Poster: joe sixpack Comment: Sarah Palin lacks the intelligence, worldliness, awareness not to mention education; to lead the largest economic/military force in the world. She has a degree in journalism for go!'s sake. Biden has a law doctorate and majored in political science. Who do you think has more working knowledge of the world's systems. The political process is mired in the fact that parties segregate their base , and since one vote by a knucklehead yokel from the backwoods is worth the same as one by a more qualified/educated voter, then the result is the republicans looking for their vote by picking a candidate with emotional appeal/ identification by those yokel/ townie types. What a JOKE!!!!! Poster: ANNIE THOMAS Comment: I DO NOT THINK SARAH PALIN IS QUALIFIED TO BE VICE PRESIDENT. I THINK SHE IS A FARCE. I WOULD NEVER PARADE MY CHILD IN FRONT OF THE PUBLIC THE WAY SHE HAS DONE WITH HER PREGNANT DAUGHTER. I HONESTLY DON'T BELIEVE SHE KNOWS HOW TRAUMATIC THIS COULD BE TO A PERSON. TO ME THIS INDICATES HER TO BE A VICIOUS PERSON AND IS SO EAGER TO BE AMBITIOUS THAT SHE WILL STOP AT NOTHING. THIS WEEKEND SHE WANTS TO RE-IMPLICATE THE ISSUE ABOUT MINISTER WRIGHT. IS IT TRUE THAT HER MINISTER IS A DEVIL WORSHIPER? WHAT IS THE REAL STORY ON THAT? THERE ARE RUMOR CIRCULATING ABOUT HIM AND DEMONIC PRACTICES. IF THIS IS TRUE ISN'T THAT THE SAME AS THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK? I HAVE RAISED FIVE CHILDREN. THEY ALL ARE GROWN AND LIVING SUCCESSFUL LIVES. THEIR FATHER WAS NOT THERE, I DID IT ALONE WITH THE HELP OF GOD, THAT DOES NOT QUALIFY ME TO BE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. SARAH PALIN NEEDS TO KNOW THAT GOD HAS BLESSED AMERICA AND SHED HIS GRACE ON US. GOD WILL NOT CONTINUE TO BLESS A NATION THAT LIES TO START A WAR ON OTHER COUNTRIES. GOD HATES LIES, AND GOD IS NOT PLEASED WITH NATIONS THAT FIGHTS UNJUST WARS. SHOULD WE ALL SUFFER BECAUSE OF GREED? I CONSTANTLY PRAY THAT GOD WILL HAVE MERCY UPON US. Poster: Sharon Patching, Longview Comment: Sounds like you didn't like the results Poster: KW Comment: The fact that you feel a biased question, asking IF Sarah Palin is qualified, is honest and honorable, speaks volumes about your lack of judgment and morals. Poster: Diane Comment: Why are we asking this? Are you going to put out a poll as to if Obama is qualified to be president? I don't think he is at all. But I do not see you asking about him? We have seen people with much less qualifications than Palin has run for president. I don't think you would be asking this question if she were are man would you? Since she is a woman she will have to do everything much more than any man would be required to be. That is has this world has been for years. Oh, my, I woke up from a nap and read this, I thought I was back in 1975 when I was getting out of school and women were being held had such a high standard in order to succeed. Looks like the world and attitudes have not changed much. Do I think she is qualified to be VP, Yes I do, in fact she could do a great job as president too. She has far much more qualifications than HIlliary does and she was goig to run for president. Poster: Lisa Comment: May I also suggest that you begin to take seriously how you can repair the damage done with your poll problem. You turned PBS into FOX news and many of us are now turning you off. Poster: Lisa Comment: Sarah Palin is not qualified to be Vice President. Republicans and Democrats agree to that. Your poll as it appeared a couple of weeks ago was ridiculously off the mark since it gave an unbelievable amount in favor of her candidacy. Right away I knew you were having a problem with accuracy and didn't bother to vote. If PBS continues to 'push' Palin on us, I will end my membership and support. Poster: elka goldenberg Comment: Sarah Palin has true character. She has what it takes. She is presentable to be in front of anyone. I bet you can put her in front of Putin, and can put him in his place.. It does not matter if you don't know an answer to a question. Couric acted despicably. She is jealous of Sarah Palin. Everyone does not know everything. It is how you react and how other people perceive you and what they believe you are capable of doing. Our Arab friends perceive Obama as their Muslim brother. That's what counts. Poster: Trinity Comment: Palin is real......nothing to hide.Those other dems....just plain scary how fake they are. Poster: Freddie Comment: This whole political process in this country has turned into a joke, I just don't understand how people really think Barack Obama is qualified to run this country, Sarah Palin has done more for her town of Wasila and the State of Alaska has managed more employees, has run own business and so on then Barack Obama has ever done in whole political life. I would say people really have to do a gut check on this experience issue because Sara Palin blows Barack Obama away. Poster: Leesa Comment: Why, I wonder, is there not a similar poll that I can find questioning the ability of Joe Biden to serve as Vice President? Is he qualified? Doesn't anyone want to know? Why is he not under similar attack and scrutiny? Poster: Ferd Comment: In this election where we have attorneys facing non attorneys, lets look at solving the Health Care Problem. It is largely a matter of tort reform. If we limit the large amounts of liability awards, health care people will not have to order every test in the book to protect themselves on the witness stand. And as to polls, I always indicate I am going to vote for the opponent of the person I support. That gives the opposition a little overconfidence. I suspect many others do the same. Poster: Stephen Douglas Comment: John McCain's choice of Governor Sarah Palin as a running mate is a good indication of how shallow his campaign has become. It also brings to light how gullible his campaign believes the American public is. My friends we are in the mist of a new low for our children’s future and ourselves with no end insight. Poster: Alan Comment: Think back a few years when an unknown govenor from Arkansas ran for president. Was he qualified? Or when an unknown ex navy commander and peanut farmer from Georgia ran for president. Was he qualified? Or when an obscure minor state official from Missouri was selected by FDR as VP. Was he qualified? Gov. Palin is certainly more qualified to be VP than Obama is to be President. She does not have any of the mystery/hidden baggage that he does. Poster: sally Comment: I always thought of PBS as entertainment/education. Enjoyed the shows and supported financially with membership and extras. Since you are joining the rest of the media feeding frenzy regarding the election, i will put my $ elsewhere. Maybe a poll about whether or not you should have such polls is in order. Poster: Diane King Comment: I think online polls are really useless because they just polarize the issues, with each side trying to get enough votes. If this is sponsored by Public Broadcasting, it's just another reason for me not to support it, though I wish I could. I rarely watch tv but when I do turn on PBS it seems that you are always fund-raising. I'd rather have ads at the end of each progam (not in the middle.) Palin is a jerk and not worthy of the attention of a poll. Poster: HILARIO MORFA Comment: Sarah de América : Mrs. Palin ! WHAT ELSE COULD GUARANTEE THAT AMERICA IS NOT GOING TO BE ENGULFED IN A NEW ERA OF RACISM ? WHAT ELSE IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO SEE AMERICA GOING DOWN THE DRAINS BECAUSE A FAKE AMERICAN AS OBAMA GETS TO THE POSITION FRO WHICH HE CAN DELIVER AMERICA TO ITS ENNEMIES ? NO OBAMA, YES SAHRA OF AMERICA 1 Poster: Forrest Brown Comment: I'd say you don't a very accurate polling system and your numbers are incorrect no matter how you slice it. This is why people rely on polls. They mean nothing. Poster: Steve Cook Comment: Since PBS is primarily funded by the government and 501-C-3 entities, I'm of the opinion that you are dishonoring both groups. Poster: Sister Joyce Comment: Why is everyone asking about Sarah Palin's ability to have a family and be vice president? Do the men get raked over the coals because they have a family? NO! HOW MANY CHRISTIANS HAVE SEEN THE YOU TUBE OF OBAMA TALKING AGAINST THE BIBLE? If you are a Christian and saw this man speaking against the Bible which our nation was built upon - you would NEVER vote for him. Palin stood for what is right and she has a good track record as a leader (mayor and governor). Poster: Carly Comment: When I was younger I was a Democrat. But as I've gotten older some of my views have bcomes a little conservative. Now, for the first time in all my voting years my decision will be based on who is best suited to lead and not the party. It's an exciting place to be. I am not won over completely by either candidate and their VP choice but there's one thing that keeps jumping up at me and it seems this reality will push me over the edge. McCain is living in the past. His politics and views are based on a different time. He cannot keep up with the current political climate; to regain our position as a world leader we cannot apply the same old strategies. Also, his choice in Palin demonstrates just how intimidated he is by the politics of a new era. He really believed choosing a female as his running mate would be a slam dunk for his campaign. Aside from the initial wow factor the impact is now seen by many women as a condescending pat on the head to female voters. He found himself a charming, conservative who can do little more than repeat the same, tired hockey mom nonsense. As a working mother and a wife I find her attempts to diminish her ambition insulting. I don't want a hockey mom as VP; I want a shrewd, savvy executive who is unapologetic for being smart, successful, and driven. For cripes sake, the woman makes out like she's going to spend her tenure as VP at hockey games handing out fresh baked cookies! The fact that the McCain team thinks this strategy comforts voters in a time when we are in crisis just screams of his nostalgic views. He'll tackle the tough issues while Sarah makes us all feel homey and warm. America doesn't need a mommy and a grandpa to run this country. I'd be happy to go to a barbeque and chat with the two of them because McCain and Palin do make me feel warm and fuzzy - but not safe. Their outdated, uncomprimising views will do nothing to repair our image in the international community. On our own shores, their plans for healthcare and taxes are old school and ear-marked for failure. Poster: f. huggins Comment: Sarah Palin appears to very qualified to run a vaccum cleaner , water for her children's bath, run to the store for groceries and run the other way. She needs to stop wasting air time and our time. I think she is attactive,and i do not dislike her,but she has no idea what it takes to run a country. I am an Obama supporter, not because he is African American, but because he would be the best man for the job. i would never vote for him just because he is black and feel so sad that a lot of white americans are not going to vote for him because he is., but it is so so sad that white Americans are not ready for a black president. a lot will not vote for him because of the color of his skin,even if they feel he is the best man for the job; that hurts my heart. By the way i am an African American; and i am proud of it b/c i find more of the Afican American population to be a lot more forgiving when it comes to race. I would really be embarassed to be white. Sometimes when my people make ignorant statements towards another race i am embarassed to be black because it makes me see how far we still have to go towards acceptance and tolerance of each other. When we face judgement GOD will be very intrested in how we loved one another and treated one another; i think he is going to be very disgusted. Thanks for listening. Poster: Indiana Chuck Comment: Absolutely NOT! It is not because she's a woman. It's because she is from the boonies in ALASKA. She was mayor of a very small city there and governor of a state that is sparsely populated, has little industry, and is disconnected from the rest of the country in more than one way. She has no congressional experience. This is nothing more than a political play by McCopy (of Bush) to win votes. Again, I would vote for a woman if she had mid-american values and much more experience. I would certainly do so for president also. Being the advocate of voting for third parties that I am, maybe the right woman would have a chance on another ticket. Hmmmmm! If it is a choice between the two front-runners, I will not waste the gasoline to go to the polls. At $4.00 per gallon,IF I waste the gas to vote. I will vote FOR someone and NOT AGAINST the lesser of the two evils. I WILL WRITE IN RON PAUL! GO THIRD PARTIES! Poster: Duke Comment: I was hoping to vote in the Is Joe Biden qualified to be VP poll or better yet Is Barry Obama qualified to be President. I couldn't find either of these polls on this site. If there's anyone out there that isn't so far to the left you can't se the middle, please point me in the right direction. Thanks. Poster: Arthur Klimeck Comment: Polls are usually answered by people with a lot of time on their hands. What are you trying to accomplish with this poll? How about a poll to see if people like participating in polls? Dumb. Poster: Jeff Comment: PBS is just showing their true colors by running this poll! The liberals are so desperate to get in power they will do or say anything! Unfortunately the press is controlled by liberal minded people who will do or say anything to suppress conservative's. Poster: JohnJ Comment: McCain's reckless decision to choose Palin as his VP candidate shows what kind of President he would be. Palin doesn't have one original thought. If asked a question she doesn't have a script for, she chooses to go off on one of her scripted rants. Palin also proved she has no idea what the constitutional responsibilities of a US Vice President are. Biden had to educate her on live TV. Is this really the type of person you want in the second highest position of our federal government? Poster: Betty J. G. Comment: After reading about this poll, I am MORE convinced there is ONLY ONE CLOSE (BARRING FRAUD, ETC.) valid poll and that is held on ELECTION DAY,NOVEMBER 4, 2008. I question Public money spent on partisan programs on PBS. The moderator for the VP debate,Gwen, is far from impartial. It has been obvious! BJG Poster: Richards Comment: Sarah Palin is a very bright and ambitious young woman but she is by no means suitable for the role of vice president in this great nation. She is certainly not a stateswoman at all. No doubt she is capable of standing on her own, but to represent the USA and interact with enemies and allies she lacks the discipline and respect which creates diplomatic and serious exchange. Personally I believe thatthe choice of Palin as vice president is an insult to America and its allies. MaClain did this to infuriate his apponent and cause an atmosphere which would look like sexist. Rich Poster: Phillip Ruffin Comment: I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight….. * If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.' * Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, yours is a quintessential American story. * If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. * Name your kids Willow , Trig and Track, you're a maverick. * Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable. * Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded. * If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that Registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience. * If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive and next in line behind a man in his eighth decade. * If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian. * If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and then left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a true Christian. * If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society. * If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible. * If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious Law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America 's. * If you're husband is nicknamed First Dude, with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable. OK, that makes it much more clearer now… Poster: SandraD Comment: Pallin is not Hillary. That is the nutjob logic of someone who just wants to be in the right. A vote for Obama is a vote for Hillary's party and principles. Right is not left, not even in shoes. Poster: Charles Bertolette Comment: If you want to know what a barracuda has in mind, don’t stare at its long, sleek body and toothsome jaw; focus on the eyes. Sarah ‘cuda is not someone to be trifled with. She has left more than a few 'high and mighty' hemorrhaging in her wake. Anyone who underestimates Sarah Palin’s courage and competence-- much less her cunning-- is downright foolish. But of course she will make a good VP! Poster: beb Comment: It's great that you have this poll up about Palin. Of all the candidates, I am most interested in learning how qualified she is for her job. As a woman who has kids, she's going to have other things that she has to worry about such as menstruating, cooking etc. She really needs to be fully qualified to be able to take care of those concerns AND be VP AND make coffee for the cabinet meetings. Thanks PBS for having the insight into such distinctions! Poster: Kelly Comment: I'm not sure why anyone is Questioning Sarah Palins qualification to V.P. because she was only a Governor & Mayor. Let's look back- George Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Regan, & Jimmy Carter-all Governors before becoming President (2 Republican & 2 Democrats), so how could that make being a Governor less of a qualification for V.P. which is not the highest office in the U.S. ???? But if we question Palins small term as Governor, then why are we not questioning Obama small term as a Senator, neither have a long track record in the Washington or political arena, which if I'm not mistaking is what we as a nation want, someone not tainted by Washington. Poster: mary love Comment: i think sara palin's much ahead of obama she is in touch with the people i can't believe anyone would vote for him we don't need him , he don't have any experince with war, or politics. i haven't seen where he reads his news. i think catie curotic was very rude to palin myself. you can tell the media is for obama. Poster: cj Comment: ARE AMERICANS REALLY THAT STUPID THAT THEY BELEIVE THAT SARAH PALIN KNOWS WHAT SHE'S TALKING ABOUT? DID ANY OF THE PALIN SUPPORTERS SEE THE KATIE C. INTERVIEW? DID THEY HEAR HOW SHE CONTINUED TO GO BACK TO 2005 WHEN SHE DIDN'T KNOW THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION? THIS IS SAD. Poster: Lee Wreyford Comment: Palin is like a breath of fresh air. She is more qualified than Obama or Biden. It is not a race matter,it's a matter of saving this country from greed and corruption and those that want to destroy this Nation Poster: Andrea Comment: This poll is rather bizarre- it has turned into a giant sounding board for conservatives who dislike the fact that Pailin's utterly obvious lack of experience and know-how is being questioned--- that anyone would insinuate that Barack Obama has no experience must be utterly ignorant of his work record-- the accusation is outrageous. All these candidates have at least some experinece- they would not be where they are if they did not-- but Sarah not only has the least international and national-level experience but is also a highly polarizing figure. Her insistence on harsh conservatism on issues such as abortion (no abortion even in incest and rape? Really??!) makes her a rather scary combination of untested ability and blind faith in party line. What we need is a balanced thinker who is not too far left or right who can dig us out of a mess that was 8 years in the making. If my fellow women are interested in loosing their right to choose and a probable collapse in the American economy, do vote for Republican. If you want change and health care, and jobs, vote Democrat. The great cities of the world are all supporters of Obama, why aren't you? Poster: Dolores Kennedy Comment: Note to John Siceloff: John, you may remember me from the PrimeTime Live segment on Bill Heirens. I was delighted to see your name and know where you are NOW! On a less personal note, I think polls are important, but generally unreliable. Seems that you have made every attempt to keep this one on track. And, finally, won't we all be glad when November 4 has come and gone?? Dolores Kennedy Poster: USA! Comment: How can you compare a man with a BA in political science (foreign relations focused) from Columbia. A degree from Harvard in constitutional law magna cum laude. And president of the Harvard Review (first black man ever) to palin. Whose credentials are 1.Small town mayor who seemingly drove her small city of 7000 inhabitants into 20 million in debt. The project that incured the debt is still in litigation since Palin instructed it to be built before the land it was built on was owned. 2.Governor of Alaskan currently undergoing an extremely serious investigation concerning inpropriety. 3.Degree in Journalism that took her 6 years and 5 colleges to attain. Just Obamas scholastic record overshadows her ENTIRE LIFE. Poster: Marty Comment: The simple question SHOULD ask whether you would want Sarah Palin as your President. That is the TRUE test of your commitment to her as Vice President, since she will BECOME your President if McCain dies in office (his odds are greater than Obama's). Also, I cannot understand how the leaders of NOW support her. Poster: Al Bach Comment: I think Sarah Palin is qualified to serve as vice-president BUT NOT AS PRESIDENT. Why not put that question on your poll? Poster: William Comment: The effect of both right wing and left wing campaigns to sway the results of this poll are fascinating. Please post a graph of YES and NO percentages versus time! Poster: An America Comment: Mrs. Palin can do the job as VP...She is very SMART, and can run Alaska. She will be a fresh face in Washington and will work for all Americans. After all she has the same issues most of us have to deal with. Most American have a job (may not like but have to feed the family), deal with the family issues, and pay taxes.I believe she will shake up Washington! We need a someone new and different to help all American. Mrs. Palin is the right VP to do it. Poster: Spike6 Comment: I think the choice is clear. If the president became incapacitated for whatever reason, who would you want to become president, Biden, or Palin. It makes the answer to the question easy when you look at it in that light... Poster: Gary Clemenson Comment: I think Sarah is more qualified than Obama who only has a total of 143 days that he actually showed up for work as a Senator. Also Joe Biden has had 2 anurisms that might have killed him. Scarey thought, if both he and Obama died in office, Nancy Pelosi would be president. No there is a reason to vote for McCain! Poster: Pam in Oregon Comment: Someday it will be a great thing to have a woman in the White House. It must be the right woman. It should be one who will not tell us what our values are and decide for us what we are allowed to do with our bodies, thoughts and hearts. It will be important to have a person who clearly understands the role of the President and ALL of the issues that constantly swarm around the position. She should be clear headed and not gibber incessently with sound bites laced with folksy comments. I am a woman and I would NEVER support Palin for office...EVER! Pam in Oregon Poster: L. H. Comment: Sarah Palin is a breath of fresh air in this poluted lawyer run political system. It sems all they do in our name is pas legistlation benificial to their friends and lobbyist buddies. Just like this bailout bill which they placed 1 billion plus porkbarrel legistlation which has nothing todo with our interest. The bill takes care of their interest and their rich banker buddies who will be given another chance to imbezzle more funds that we the working clas will pay for. We need other every day working people in government with with good common sense and integrety. Every politician should serve 4 years nad be put out so they dont have time to establish the good ole boy network of lobbyist. Poster: wolve1462 Comment: How do we know if either Presidential Candidates and their running mates are qualified to run this country? We do know that the way the economy and the government is going, I suggest that none of the people in Washington D.C. are capable of running this country, especially with so many liberal views out there and so many people trying to be politically correctly. I'll vote for the candidate that says Abortion is murder and is wrong. Women don't have the right to kill their children before they are born. The child within their womb is not a tumor, it is a living breathing human being with a soul. May God Help those women who think otherwise. I'll vote for the one who believes that the government has the right to punish criminals as criminals, especially since God has given them the authority to protect human life by taking human life in capitol punishment. We shouldn't be paying for these criminals to have a better life than the poor just because we believe they have rights. I believe they gave up their rights when they took away the rights others by their criminal acts. I'll vote for the candidate who will stand up and say that the Triune God is the only God and we should worship HIM only. And that the Son of God, the Second person in the Trinity, is the only way for one to be saved. Any other man made salvation is not equal to God's plan of salvation found in Scripture. They all lead to eternal destruction in Hell. I'll vote for the candidate who will follow God and not cheat the American people, like many in the political office are doing as we speak. I'll vote for the candidate who says all people are precious in God's sight and deserve to live as long as the Lord sees that purpose as available asset on this plant and still has a purpose. For God shall choose when one's life is up and when that person's services are completed for the glory of HIS Name, not ours. So whether I believe Sarah Palin is ready, I don't know, but if she shows herself to have Christian morals and ethics towards all, most likely I will vote for the Republican party. Everyone blames the publican party for the problems of this country. I blame not only both parties, but the greedy self-righteous people who believe they deserve the right to do whatever just because they believe they earned the right to be free. We are only free as along as God grants us the right to be free. It is a privilege, not a right. We better understand that very quickly or this country is heading for a downfall of massive proportions. We also need to remember, Bin Laden is seeing this and believes He is winning. In fact, neither Bin Laden or the America people will win as long as they reject Christ Crucified and do evil against their neighbor. Both will end up in the throngs of Hell, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth because God gave them a time of grace they ignored during their life time. The time is now to turn from wickedness, repent and believe on Jesus Christ as your Savior. For only He is able to save the lost from the eternal death in Hell. Poster: John W. Bond Comment: On the debate she had to be coached , Did not answer the question . bragged on her self . streched the truth no I don't think she should be put in the spot to be president I can learn a poem but that does not make me a poet Poster: Larry Comment: Its about time a real honest to good person like Sarah Palin is in the running for political office. The lawyer take care of lawyer mentality needs new blood with some people like Sarah running for office. All you see running today are wealthy politicians primarily stating. This country needs people in office that are dedicated to serve first as our kids in the military. I[m tired of the rich taking care of the rich and their self serving lobbistso both can get richer at our expense. Look at the bailout bill. Its taking of these politicians rich banker buddies at our expense. Im a 35 year lawenforcement officer and am tired of being taken advantage of by these Washington, DC, Bureaucrats. Thanks LARRY Poster: Lee Rossier Comment: Definitely, Sarah Palin is qualified to be Vice President of the United States. She has run a business, where she had to meet payroll responsibilities, she has been the Mayor of Wasilla, where she had many responsibilities, and as Governor of Alaska. Obama has never ran anything, except his mouth. How can he be as qualified as Sarah? Joe Biden has never run a business, only been a Senator for 36 years. What qualifies him? She is highly qualified and America should be very proud and happy to have Sarah as our next Vice President. Poster: Nancy Comment: Based on your article about the poll, it does not sound like the results are valid. They should not be published. Poster: Barb Bonner Comment: I do not think Gov. Palin is qualified to be VP or God forbid President. The one question I have not had answered is why did she attend five different colleges before she graduated and over what period of time? Did she flunk out repeatedly? What was her class standing? We know that Sen McCain was fifth from the bottom of his class in his Naval Academy class. These things do make a difference and name calling, nastiness, etc. do not change the facts. Poster: Gerry Comment: The poll is not random, so the results don't mean much. There are emails around prompting one side or the other to vote, so the poll merely reflects who gets the email. In my opinion is that Biden should have winked more, because clearly that was the most substantive thing that Palin did last night. Poster: Lucy Comment: Why are only her qualifications in question? I know this is a poll, but as a source of journalism, isn't this a little subjective? Poster: Philip Charron Comment: Thank you for the opportunity to vote. It is the first time I have been to your site, so maybe I'm asking for something you already posted...What has Obama done to qualify him to be President, especially CIC? As far as I can see, Palin is more qualified and less susceptible to undue influence! Philip Charron Poster: Wes Comment: The only poll that counts will be done on November 4th. Poster: Sandi Comment: I think Palin is just as qualified as any other politician. As the governor of a large state, she has as much if not more experience than Obama. The problem is that she is a woman. Look at how many really stupid men have been sent to Washington, but nobody points them out! I'm from Illinois, and when Obama ran for the Senate, I'd never heard of him, so I researched his experience in the State Senate. I did NOT like what I found out. The man is an ultra-left liberal whose policies, frankly, scare the cr-- out of me. I didn't vote for him for the US Senate and I definitely will NOT vote for him for President. Poster: Lillian Comment: The time will come that another qualified woman, such as Hilary Clinton, will seek the Presidential or Vice Presidential position and as a woman I look forward to that time. This is not the time, however. We must have a candidate for these positions who can lead or be ready to lead this country through the economic, societal and war and peace issues you face. No president will face more challenges as we struggle to restore our economy and position in the world community. Now is not the time for the aspiring starlett to enter the world stage. We need sober, thoughtful,informed and compassionate leadership and Barack Obama and Joe Biden are closest to those qualifications. Another year women of America. Poster: Cyndi Commella Comment: I thought she did a really great job last night. She stayed on track without slamming Obama. I thought how they kept bring up McCain and Busch sucked. I do not believe he is another four yers of Busch. Also how does a man who has only been a Jr.Senator for 143 have the knowledge or know how to be our Commander and Chief. Every chance he got last night he said what McCain had down and voted for. Watching CNN after the debate he slammed McCain 143 times. Sarah only said something about Obama 18 times. She spoke about her beliefs and what McCain and her want to do for our Country. I hate the war we are in right now, But she hit the nail on the head when she said so Obama and you would bring out the white flag. This Country should never be bring the white flag out. Most of all what about all those Men and Women who have given up there lives and time from there Family to stand up for our Country. I am not a Republician, but the first time in my life I will vote out of my party, Sarah you really showed me that you can be a leader. Poster: Capt. Tim Paegelow Comment: Is Palin just another pretty face in the Republican mirror of society? Look at the old man who surrounds himself with beauty queens. Clearly he's no beauty. i.e. Mz Puff-n-snort the woman who speaks for McCain often, interrupts and smirkingly smiles at such men as the honorable and intelligent Frederico Pena on PBS? Now HE (John McCain)has chosen Mrs. Palin, a pretty face to be sure, but a commomer, not likely! A person does not become Governor by getting food stamps or living on minimum wages...poor hockey Mom? This woman relates to the men in our society that think...'Gee, John has her near by, so I can also have such a woman near by too...I just have to vote for McCain.' And now our women...perhaps they are thinking Palin is just like them...again not likely. Once she gets the silver spoon out of her mouth and quits smiling her perfect teeth in societies mirror, one realizes she simply does not answer questions put to her. She scares the hell out of me. If Big John won't press the nuclear button she sure would! I look into the mirror and not see myself but rather another Miss America Pageant leading our country. Is that what we want? The world is changing by leaps and bounds, the time of Bush, McCain and others of that ilk will be washed off the mirror for they are not the future, their time is over and they do not see it. This world belongs to the young people of this world. They will be the ones who solve global warming, will bring on renewable safe engery for the world, for they do not hold the predjudices that so sway those in the mirror. Good bye Miss America, Sarah Palin, Mz. Puff-n-snort for that multi-racial, multi-ethnic college sophmore is using Windex! Poster: Sharon Benson Comment: after watching the vice President's canditates debate last night 10-2-08....it Sealed my vote for this office... Ms. Sarah sure held her own and with a smile of confidence in KNOWING who she is and what she stands for, a woman that has faith and back bone to face those that are just waiting to see her fail...this is funny, just because she is a woman? not just a woman but a LADY..who loves life, family, and the almighty God... she is a lady with CLASS...she is not just a wife, mother, daughter, but a answer to prayer for our country who is not afraid of standing firm for the proper rights of the people and our mighty God....although God was never mentioned in either debates....but we, the Christians know what it means to protect Israel!!! Down through the years men have gotten so greedy and selfish, FAT CATS, it is time for a GOOD CHANGE WITH GODLY MORALS AND RESPECT FOR ONE ANOTHER. I come from a long line of roots in the Democrat party. but my grandfather would turn over in his grave if he knew what this party has become in Morals and Truth... They no longer have respect for their own bodies or true Christianity...a true Christian could not vote honest for any democrate with these ungodly standards....yes, Ms. Sarah has my vote and my family and several friends.....GOD BLESS SARAH PALIN, in JESUS NAME!!!!!! Poster: BJ Comment: As a female republican voter, I resent the approach that has been taken that portrays the average American can be reached with an Elli Mae mentality. Aw shucks!!! Give me a break! She is sickening! Poster: Susan Comment: Palin's qualifications for VP and being female are two com0pletely issues. There are many women who are qualified to be President but Palin is not. While I look forward to have a woman in the VP or President I want it to be someone who is extremely competent -- not just because of her sex. I fear for America is she is elected and ends up having to serve as President. Poster: Norma V Comment: Why don't we vote on Obama's qualifications for office? Why doesn't the National Organization of Women (NOW) support Palin? Are the liberal women the only women recognized and supported? Seems so... Poster: SeaBee Comment: I thought that the only qualification required is American citizenship. The fact that she is an airhead is irrelevant. Poster: Keri Comment: Did anyone making the decision to allow one vote per computer consider the vast number of people who use public computers? In attempts to make their poll more scientific, what PBS actually accomplished was excluding so many voices from our community. I never in a million years would have thought I would be disappointed with PBS. Poster: plunko Comment: My concern is not with people being able to vote more than once; rather the premise of the entire poll. Was there ever a poll conducted asking the voters if they thought Senator Obama was qualified to be President? Why not? Poster: Jerry Chaney Comment: IF Sarah Palin has no EXPERIENCE to be President, WHY is oBama running for President ?????? Poster: Chris Comment: I was led to this poll by a left-leaning friend. I don't know your program as I am not a TV watcher, generally. So, now, it is even at 49% and 49%. Silly, this. She is, according to the Constitution, qualified; over 35 and U.S. born. I don't know her educational background. It certainly does not seem a wide or deep one. Her character, as shown in her RNC acceptance speech, is to be rather cutesy but doctrinaire. I don't see her as a diplomat. People who would compare her wit to the obvious intelligence and care that Barack Obama has been attempting to bring to American politics truly make me fear for the future of God's world. Poster: carmen morey Comment: Most of the media are not fair on what they say about Sarah Palin. Objectivity had flown out the because people are being biased and wants to influence people to vote for who they feel will be good for the office. Stick to facts. Gov. Palin started in PTA and made her to the governorship. In my own opinion she's the most qualified because she knows what the normal people needs. She got SPUNK too!!! Poster: Mary Comment: I feel the attack on conservatives by the media is terrible. Promoting Barack Obama and attacking Sarah Palin needs to stop. Now! Barack Obama is the squeaky wheel and he is getting the oil. Everyone is afraid to say anything negative. I want to vote my values and I want others to feel they are able to vote their values also. Poster: Ed Comment: Alandria: So let me get this right. Obama's mother was 17 when she was pregnant, did drugs, and had a hippy lifestyle, and left him with her parents for a couple of years. His father was a drunk who fathered several children with several women and died in a DUI car wreck. He lived in 3 countries, 3 states, and attended many schools. He used and sold cocaine while in college. Two of his friends were radical bombers from the sixties. Another of his friends that helped him buy land for his house was recently convicted and going to prison. He was never in the armed forces, or even the Boy Scouts. Never led anything or anyone. No executive decisions. He was the attorney for ACORN(who is pushing voter registration and him for president), whe had several members convicted for voter fraud. And 3 top execs from Fannie Mae who screwed it up and got millions in bonus money; Franklin Raines, Tim Howard, and Jim Johnson, are all working for the Obama campaign as economic advisers. Yes, that qualifies him to be president. And it certainly shows change. Regards, Ed. PS: And as a bonus, Virginia democrats are doing their best to give convicted felons the right to vote. Poster: Dave Kelley` Comment: You bet she is qualified! She knows that JESUS is LORD!She loves babys, she likes guns, she likes to fish. And she cant stand for unethical, liberal politics. What more could a desent human being ask for in a president, much less a vice president! Poster: Michael Comment: You ask a question and people answer. What is the point? The election is the only legitimate answer to the question. Everything else is a pretender. Poster: Stan Logan Comment: In 1929, according to super qualified Joe Biden, President Franklin Roosevelt went on Television and discussed consequences of the the Stock Market crash. A more telling poll would be, Is this Joker qualified to be Vice President or anything else that requires intelligence? Poster: jean brown Comment: If late President Harry S. Truman was qualified to run this country, then Gov. Sara Pallin is equally qualified. Truman was a haberdasher (mens hats salesman) and Sara has served as Mayor and Governor of a state. Truman was thrust into his role when Roosevelt died unexpectedly and his advisors stepped in to help him - and, as we all know, did a good job. In fact, he goes down in history as one of our greatest presidents. We won't even go into their education. They don't compare. Let the naysayers bleat and blow, but facts are facts. Hooray for Sarah. Poster: SoDakRules Comment: This poll is a joke. Why stop allowing access to the results after Palin ties Obama? Are you afraid of what the results will show? I've lost all respect for PBS for conducting this poll. Journalism is dead in this country and so are my contributions to PBS. Poster: Tonya S Comment: Why isn't Joe Biden receiving the same amount of press and questioning? I didn't see a poll asking if anyone felt Joe Biden was qualified. I don't see the media attacking Joe Biden. Why the double standard? Is it because he is a man or because he is a democrat? Poster: MRB Comment: This is hilarious and completely typical of the left wing media. When will we see the poll. Do you believe Barack Obama has enough experience to be the President? Do you believe Barack Obama is ready to be President? This guy has less qualifications to be President than Palin has to be VP. This is why the chosen one has been so protected and guarded by the leftist media. I need more from the person running for President of the USA than to be a good speech reader. Not saying Mccain is a premier candidate, but he gives this country way more credibility when it comes to handling foreign policy and already having the respect of foreign leaders. They may not like Mccain, but they sure as heck will give him more respect than Obama when it comes time to negotiate world affairs. They already know Obama will be a stooge and bow down to them and concede to their demands. This is why they support him. Figure it out people. You won't like Obama's change. Poster: Nat Comment: The girl needs to set down. And read up on what is going on in this world around her. I feel sorry for her and the man she is runing with. I can not stand to say his name. And for picking on her, it comes with the job. Poster: pooh Comment: Those of you with the negative comments, have you really studied all of the facts. How many hours of research have you really put into finding out what qualifications one has and why is it the media has not brought biden out in the open as to his cedentials for vice president and if he is qualified enough to lead this country? Most of those with negative idea's on Sarah have been proven wrong, just as with some of the other candidates. A vote for paulin is a show of support for Hilary. I believe Paulin is capable of running this country, if she had to. She comes from a land that is considered the last frontier, which if you ever lived there would say it is no piece of cake. although beautiful in some parts, can be trecherous in other area's. She has came from the hard side of life and has shown many accomplishments in turning the state around, and anyone who is out for the common man has my vote!!! Not anyone who is out to tax us more, big government and ways of getting more money out of the common person. On the health care issue, if we stopped picking up the bill for all the illigals in this country, more money could go to support true americans, that are taxed and money goes to those that don't support america. Schools would even benefit, as would not be over crowded and having to give special attention to those that are not legal in this country. I wish and pray who ever wins this election, they will bring this country back to the way our fore fathers set out for it to be. Those out their that are fighting to take away our freedoms, that our fore fathers fought and dreamt of creating, have the freedom to leave this country and live in a country that has the same beliefs, ideas, language, ect. instead of fighting to take my freedoms away. You are free to go elsewhere in this country if you don't like the way the majority of the country votes. I really don't think any true american will hold you back!!!! All I can say is I research out everything I can on all canadates before I make my decision. I write down all the pro and con's and the one who agrees with my thoughts and wants the most will win my vote. Before you judge another, you might look at your own closet first and as Jesus once said: Let those without sin, cast the first stone. Poster: B. Dagnis Comment: Why are we only asking if Sarah Palin is qualified and is Barack Obama qualified to be president which is far more important then the VP. She obviously has more experience than Obama and yet you continue to question her ability to be VP. Look at her record and accomplishments vs Obamas' record. People had better wake up, our country is in trouble and we need a strong leader not a yes man. Obama talks well but that is where it ends. Poster: Jan Comment: How can you change the voting rules mid-stream? The voting has been stacked with supporters who no matter how stupid she sounds in her interviews and how uninformed she is on even what she reads, will still support her. I suggest you trash this poll. It is worthless. I have to give it to her on one thing, I am feeling really smart these days and have high hopes of a run for high political office soon(LOL)! Poster: Jewell Comment: I think Sarah is as qualified as Barack Obama. She is in the VP slot and he is the P slot. Maybe she has not been in the public eye as much but as for pure qualifications I feel she is up to the job. What experience does Obama have????? Poster: Nancy Coach Comment: I appreciate a robust dialogue on meaningful issues. We need that. I would just ask this question. Did you have a poll asking for Biden's qualifications to be Vice President? Why not? This smacks of an ulterior motive that is less than ingenuous. Poster: Sammie Comment: What's all the noise about with Sarah Palin's experience? We have a candidate running for President of the United States with NO EXPERIENCE!! Not much to talk about while he was in the Senate......what exactly did he accomplish?? At least she has experience as a Mayor and a Governor. She was able to accomplish several items while in both of these positions. Is this the best the Democrats could come up with, questioning her qualifications/experience in order to undermine her candidacy? They need to take a closer look at their candidate, and stop being hypocrits. Poster: denise Comment: there is no way I believe in the political climate we have now that Sarah Palin is tied for being able to assume the vice presidency and maybe the presidency. This is bull. Poster: Sam Comment: Go Sarah ! While I enjoy some of PBS programming,I just can not stomach Gun Hating , Abortion Supporting Liberal's. You think the poll is skewed,Well,You have not been to the heartland lately.You know the heartland,Where most of your food comes from.Where people still believe in the American Dream.Where people still actually Work.Where God still reigns & his laws come first. If George Washington ,Or Any president of the last 200 years were to run for office today,The people who's comments I've read today on this forum Would run them outta town on a rail for a lack of experience. Instead ,you want to elect a man with about 3 whole days leadership value(sarcasm) and who put politics BEFORE his religious beliefs.If he will sell out his God,He will not think twice about selling out this country. Poster: shirl Comment: Poor Palin, she is the woman McCain is referring to when he says women need to get education and training, sureley she is lacking in the area of public speaking. Poster: Judy Comment: That was a poorly worded question. Poster: Gregory Mundy Comment: I echo several comments made by several other visitors to this site. If individuals are able to access the site to vote on multiple occasions, this really is not a poll but more along the lines of Dancing with the Stars or Star Search. I have a greater concern that PBS or the GOP will point to this poll to site that there is an even split between individuals who feel Sarah Palin is qualified for the VP position. This poll should be pulled from your site before it can do any more harm. Poster: Brian A. Comment: Why aren't you doing a poll on whether or not Barack Obama has the qualifications to be President. He was only in the U.S. Senate 143 days when he announced his run for the Presidency. In the Illinois senate he voted 130 times, 'present'. He doesn't like to commit to positions. He says 'Change!' Change what? How? He doesn't like to get specefic. We need to know how the American people feel about his qualifications. Sarah Palin has more executive experience than Obama, Biden, or McCain. Poster: Gigi Comment: Thanks for fixing to poll so that only one vote counts per person-can you fix the voting machines so that they do the same as well during the election? Seriously, I don't think Sarah Failin is a good candidate-she believes in magical thinking - I believe, therefore, I can. That may be good for the governorship of Alaska, but it's not good for vice president of our country, or for one so close to being President. Choosing her shows Mr. McCain's disdain for women, since he made sure he chose someone who could manipulate, and someone he hardly knew. Furthermore, I feel his PTSD was never properly treated, as demonstrated by his short temper, and inability to control his emotions. He seems out of control and with such a short fuse, he really isn't a good candidate to me. He lacks the ability to make good decisions. Poster: diane rogers Comment: Leanne has the right idea. Barack Obama's qualifications are as an organizer for the corrupt Chicago machine but do you ask about his qualifications? He has a gift of gab but so does the Devil. This bailout started with Janet Reno first offering 10% down loans, then no money down, then no DOC loans then interest only loans. Pretty soon we had millions of people with mortgages that could not afford them. The banks that balked were called raciests and undue pressure was put on them to get on this giveaway. The heads of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac lined their pockets with money IN THE PROCESS. EXACTLY LIKE ENRON but on a much grander scale. These people are Obama's henchman with the head of Countrywide. Now why DON'T YOU INVESTIGATE THIS...EXPOSE THESE PEOPLE...AND OBAMA!!! Quit dumster diving in Sarah's garbage!!! She is a breath of fresh air and damn smart. Poster: Eugene Slagstad Comment: PBS like CNN is left of center-nothing fair and balanced in either Poster: Ray Comment: Your pole is a total farce. You need to start over and insure there is only 1 vote per person and that is nearly impossible. Obama is such a total joke as a presidential candidate. You poor fools who fall for his BS deserve him. Unfortunatly for you though, he will lose easily in Nov. Palin is sooo much sharper than OBiden and Obama together. Poster: Betty Comment: I believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to run for the VP slot than Obama's wife is qualified to be First Lady of the United States!! Recent decisions on behalf of the American people have been made by individuals with many years political experience and these people are about to destroy our country! If many years of political experience can impact this country [and of the world] in such a negative manner, Sarah's fresh and less cyncial views provide some light on the horizon. Thanks, NOW, for providing an opportunity to say it aloud! Poster: Wanda J. Cox Comment: I am so encouraged Sarah Palin. I feel that if the American people don't listen with their hearts not their pockbooks we will be in severe distress in this nation. God is speaking to our hearts and I feel that He will use her mightly to get the USA back where we should be. When we believe in 1 God, only 1 way to get to God, we don't bash the decisions of same sex relationships, but we separate the person with our nation and say it is not legal for same sex marriage, it is not biblical. Noah took 2 of different sex's on the ark. Had there been 2 of one sex and down the line, the world would not have any life today. It should not be legal to taken a life in the wound only in mighty situations, and really don't know even then. when we line up with God's word then the economy, the war everything will fall into place. When we get our of God's favor for us, then we have truly had a bad day. Yes I choose her for McCain as a VP and am excited to do so. Poster: Wanda J. Cox Comment: I am so encouraged Sarah Palin. I feel that if the American people don't listen with their hearts not their pockbooks we will be in severe distress in this nation. God is speaking to our hearts and I feel that He will use her mightly to get the USA back where we should be. When we believe in 1 God, only 1 way to get to God, we don't bash the decisions of same sex relationships, but we separate the person with our nation and say it is not legal for same sex marriage, it is not biblical. Noah took 2 of different sex's on the ark. Had there been 2 of one sex and down the line, the world would not have any life today. It should not be legal to taken a life in the wound only in mighty situations, and really don't know even then. when we line up with God's word then the economy, the war everything will fall into place. When we get our of God's favor for us, then we have truly had a bad day. Yes I choose her for McCain as a VP and am excited to do so. Poster: Robert Milam Comment: Big money has put us is this very precarious position. I would be most happy to see anyone with the (balls) guts to buck the establishment, (campaign contributions) Until legislators realize that we vote for their opinions(not party line)it is increasingly harder for me to vote the incumbent. Please; any change would be better than status quo. Lets send a message to legislators. Vote your convictions, or go home. Poster: Taylor Comment: Just get to work and stop worrying about who's who, and VOTE! on November 4th.. thats the real Poll that counts. Poster: David Henry Comment: Forty nine per cent of those polled so far have voiced confidence in Sarah Palin's ability to serve as vice president. Given that the historic leaning of PBS is leftist, given that the majority of those who tune in to PBS are to the left of center, this is a substantial victory for Sarah Palin. She has tons more executive experience than Obama. His role as a community organizer working with an avowed Weather Underground terrorist in radicalizing the minds of children in Chicago doesn't really qualify as executive experience. Poster: Christina A. Comment: I am confident that Sarah Palin IS equipped to be our next Vice President, and hopefully someday, our first woman President! She HAS demonstrated leadership skills (not sure what some of these contributing people's comments are talking about!), and she has a track record of making positive changes for THE PEOPLE in different areas all throughout her political career. Any of you who say she hasn't...I'd like to see you attempt to do what Sarah Palin has done in the state of Alaska, and through her career thus far. I am completely excited to see what happens When McCain/Palin get into office. Are you people seriously confident in Barack Obama? I believe he is one of the most manipulative president-hopefuls who has EVER been up for the position. I am truly nervous about what will happen to our country if he were to get elected. GO MCCAIN/PALIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Poster: Just Comment: She's cute, but she will not get my vote. Further I don't know her and what I've have heard, so far, is not very encouraging. I really cannot relate to Sarah Palin as a politician or mother. Were she not a governor, but instead, an underprivileged mother, in any inner city within the U.S., she would be the scorn of society (particularly as it relates to the ability to raise her daughters and a special needs child properly) Further the views she put forth espouse a continuation of dim-wittedness associated with women in U.S. -As a woman, I expect more of a woman. A woman using her pregnant daughter to raise her child(ren) is totally unacceptable. Really, who is minding the children? This is not an example of a woman handling responsibility, its passing them on to someone else. -A woman who uses her disabled child as a pawn for political gain is shameful. -There is too much drama within the Palin family unit revealing unstable trailer-trash family values. -She should have traveled outside of the U.S. at least once - before seeking national office. Killing moose and hunting doesn't work in the real world when there are educational expenses, housing expenses and an economy that is totally out of whack. What seriously can she bring to the table? Poster: Andres Guerrero. Comment: Dear Sir or Madam, Ms. Palin is wonderful for Alaska, Where the moose’s run free and you are able to see the Northern Lights in a clear night. But it is shameful that we even consider this lady to be a vise-president; someone that has never had a passport. That Lies about her record and is not able to even speak without maundering. We should give her a pencil and a pad and tell her to write all the words she does not understand and call Auntie Mame to explain to her later. Let’s all chip in and send her to school, because being a hockey mom is not enough to hold the highest office in the land. Have we not learned anything still. Are we so self centered and stupid that we are not able to see when the people we put in power steal and lie to us. Putting our people and country in danger are we such morons that we do not understand that we are at war. Forget about returning with dignity, these people are very capable of policing themselves, they have done so for thousands of years. What makes us think we are so superior when we are not able even to see each other face to face with trust, don’t think that people around the world don’t sense this. Poster: Jen Comment: This poll is a complete waste of time. It's just another attempt by the liberal media (and PBS is about as liberal as it gets!) to discredit republicans. Poster: Michael Comment: I think this poll is great. It shows that while geared directly towards the pursuits of the liberal machine, NOW still can't generate enough of it's own liberal traffic to surpass the silent (sane) majority. I find it entirely laughable that your deeply concerned about limiting voting via cookie ID somehow infringes on privacy. I sure as hell hope your organization doesn't aid in the design of real voting machines. Now that your limited audience will never be able to surpass that of the silent majority, you as well have to discount this survey as unscientific. I'll go even further to say that NOW's concept of reality is in every way unrealistic. Poster: Don Comment: Knowing that a governor has far greater executive responsibilities than a senator, simple common sense would tell anyone with a brain that Governor Palin is far more qualified to be vice president than Senator Biden. That said, we should also realize she definitely is more qualified to be President, though she is not even the candidate, than Senator Obama who has far less qualifications than Senator Biden. Govern Palin has a proven track record of being a champion for change. The other ticket is politics as usual with no proven record of change. Obama's primary record in the Senate is present. I do not think Obama's slogan should be a candidate for change, but rather a candidate for chains. BIG GOVERNMENT raising taxes (even capital gains and inheritance taxes), dictating our health programs, taking money from hard working people and giving it to those who refuse to work because they would have to pay child support to all the illegitimate children they have fathered. This is just a few of his proposed chains. Sounds like bondage to me. Poster: Merry Mix Comment: SARAH PALIN ROCKS!! She's the ultimate example of a successful and driven woman's ability to break through the glass ceiling we've all been told exists. She's maintained the closeness of her family with integrity; has a supportive husband who really works as her team partner; has an 88% APPROVAL rating for her political role in her state (Nancy Pelosi has a NINE PERCENT approval!); has a confirmed record of cleaning up corruption that men before her couldn't touch; puts her money where her mouth is in taking firm and tough stands; disassociates herself and her family from the lucrative benefits of most office holders -- got rid of the private plane and even refused the services of a cook! Find me someone else in office like THAT!! This is a lady with CLASS who will be our Margaret Thatcher. Because she's been actively RUNNING the largest state of Alaska, how in the world could anyone have the audacity to say she's not qualified to be the Vice President when the men running for the office of President haven't even done as much as she has under the Executive Branch of the US Goverment? In reality, she's the ONLY one who is qualified! Poster: John Comment: The media and NOW,Like the big bucks OBAMA is throwing around like they are going out of style.Did anyone want to ask about or question HIS QUALIFICATIONS or his background, not at all they all knew about the big bucks. Where Did he get so much money? My donations are way down, and lots of people are on a tight budget. As for Sarah,I don't remember such a drive to get Harry Truman or Al Gore to prove they were qualified for Vice president or any one else. Its a sad day for the USA when you spend millions to get a job that pays so little. But if you are getting paid $166K a year to do a job that only requires you to answer present ocasionally,And tell your co-workers call me if you need me.OH WELL, LIFE SURE GETS TOUGH. Poster: Ken Mitchell Comment: The whole premise of PBS is flawed. First, PBS is notoriously biased themselves, and anything PBS touches is biased. Even the 'mainstream' media is openly supporting Obama. (Example: Obama, in an interview, refers to 'my Muslim faith...' and the interviewer gently corrects him. How would the interviewer - or the network - reacted if McCain or Palin had said 'my Jewish faith...'? I thought so....) Second, these online polls are a joke, and always have been. They're supposed to be funny. NO ONE takes them seriously - except you, apparently. PBS ought to go private; you shouldn't get any taxpayer money. The fact is that you spend MY tax dollars on YOUR propaganda. And I don't much like it. Poster: Roux Comment: Certainly Governor Palin is qualified to run as VP. She's got more executive experience than Joe Biden and Barack Obama together. Poster: Randy Comment: I'm amazed at these comments. I had no idea so many computer-illiterate, brain-dead, whining; numbskulls visit a PBS web site. What's scary is the negative comments and ‘advice’ (loosely) about how to conduct a poll and suggestions on what not be posting on your web site probably are, no doubt, from Palin supporters. And judging by these shallow comments, if they're not a Palin supporter now, they will be eventually. These folks managed to use their pointing finger and mouse to negotiate that technically-complex voting process AND figured out how to post a comment, but had absolutely nothing productive to add. I’m not surprised. After all, their leader is striving for a position to make decisions about how Americans may run their lives, but she doesn't have the mental capacity to know that shooting innocent animals is not nice, okay! Put down the rifle and get out of that helicopter! What is it with those morons and their guns? If one is not intentionally shooting animals in the snow, then another is accidentally shooting people in their face. Kill animal, shoot people in the face, try to fire people who don’t treat yer kin folk right, while praising Jesus. But if you’re rapped, then you better be able to support an unwanted child because abortion is not nice and the government is not going to help with child care and your medical bills from a complicated birth. So, you post as many polls as you want on your web site, and you ask all the questions you want. These twits are clueless about survey segment samples, and general polling. These are the same folks that probably toss their Census forms in the trash and then b*%#ch about their neighborhoods not having adequate municipal funding. Or they blubber incessantly about the distance to the nearest Starbucks. They don’t understand the simplest things. Polls are a gauge of the most likely result, not the absolute result. If you boobs could think, then you would use the information as an indicator of how alone you are in your views. And that should tell you something. By the way, there is no such thing as a “bogus poll.” There are only “bogus results.” Here’s a thought for the thoughtless… if you don’t like the poll…don’t answer it. After all, it’s not the Census. Internet cookies are harmless, they have a size limit, they expire, you can read them and delete them, and they can only be read by the pages that created them or a page from the same site if granted permission by the page that created the cookie. But the Internet is used by many people with braces on their brains who will forever remain ignorant about these things. And those are the same people who spread fear over a harmless thing as cookies. End the end, their fear causes problems for everyone and necessitates more sophisticated methods to take a simple poll. To the Editors/Webmaster: Web pages can test to see if a visitor is accepting cookies. If so, the use one. If not, use a server cookie. If that’s not possible, then query the client PC for demographic information, machine name, IP address, region, etc. Put that data in a simple database and use a script that validates for unique entries. For the rest of you simpletons who wrote such ridiculous comments, you can vote and re-vote for Palin to your heart’s content but it won’t change the final outcome—it only makes it appear you’re ahead to your fellow simpletons. Poster: Walker Comment: Who really cares about polls anyway? Most people vote blindly because some talk show host or campaigning friend told them what to think and how to vote and that goes for both the left and the right. Truly, how many Americans take the time to READ and UNDERSTAND. If the truth be told, it would embarrassingly low numbers. Poster: Beverly Mason, LPC Comment: She is absolutely qualified for VP or for President. She's a fresh face with brains and know-how to get the job done. She's not afraid of the Democrats, or anythings else obviously. We as women need to take a look around and realize that the men in the white house have made a mess of things. If a woman can handle all the jobs she's had and raise 5 children, that makes her qualified for just about anything. I raised 3. I know. Beverly Mason Licensed Professional Counselor (mental health) Poster: Phebe Comment: But for this poll, I have to say, I'm here with a seriously jaded view of your 'deep journalism.' Please. Let's keep these polls in the realm of the mundane and keep them out of our politics. I have been disillusioned with PBS for many many years due to your transparent slant and bias. Wise up. You want taxpayer money don't you? Poster: Harry Comment: I do not think Sara Palin is truly qualifide for the postition she is seeking, but i wonder if a drastic change might be better than the alternative. Maybe it's time to remove them that have been riding the same horse for many years. Poster: Walt Comment: Sarah never owned a passport till this last month. Nothing more need be said. Walt Poster: kathy Comment: how can anyone say that she is not qualified..the qualification is age being a citizen etc...now should we vote for her is another question. depending on your opinion of if she would be good for our country.i personally think that she is probably not the best choice for vice president...but i dont see a great choice anywhere on the ballot. i think this is one of the worst choices for president vice president etc that we have had in a long time...I am forty and fankly would prefer someone with no experience to those that have experience and have showed us how little they care about we the people just my opinion Poster: Toni Comment: Guess what, PBS got caught conducting a poll they knew to be biased and which was meant to be an outlet for the views of thier left leaning audience. Now we all know that you are just like the other biased alphabet soup networks. Sarah Palin will make a great president, certainly as good as Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton, both of whom were also governors. I have watched in total digust at the uncalled for public rape job committed on the reputation of Sarah Palin by the main stream media. You all rate the respect of a slug, leaving its slime where ever it goes. No questions have been asked by you, or by any of the mud slinging media, concerning the very questionable background and Marx influenced education of Obama. Why not? Afraid of what you will find? You should be. Shame on you and all your friends. What can you possible gain by encouraging this democratic country to go down the road of socialist Marxism? Hello, is anybody thinking? Toni Poster: Tamera Comment: NOW & PBS: The public outrage you have incited by dabbling in the political polling. If you choose to engage in the fine art of polling research, consult a professional! It's embarrassing! I appreciate that you acknowledge serious flaws in your polling procedure. However, the question format also reveals and/or reinforces something much more fundamental and important about public perception concerning the political bias of PBS. As a result of one very ill-conceived question, PBS's various constituents view NOW and PBS as clearly having 'tipped your political hand' (aligned with the Democratic Party). I remind you that you have obligations all Americans; both to the high profile endowment contributors whose faces you can see and the average taxpayer whose faces you never see, but gladly accept personal checks from and government subsidies in the form of tax revenue. You are charged with the mission to be all of America's Public Broadcast System. 'Sitting on the fence' by providing objective programming on controversial topics is your responsibility to the American people. The American people trust you to do this. You have violated that trust! If you choose to dabble at all or fully engage in the fine art of political research, consult an outside research professional! This HUGE black eye to NOW and PBS is embarrassing and may be felt when local public television affiliates have their telethons. PBS may see support dramatically decrease for a time because of one ill-conceived “question.” One more note: take care in selecting the comments you wish to share in response to this entire issue. It is very easy to unwittingly introduce personal bias into any PBS interactive and presentational endeavor. Poster: Mike Comment: You are correct in your assessments of your poll that it is neither scientific, prone to manipulation, and is at best a Rohrsacht sampling. At worst its manipulative propaganda. So why do the poll at all ? All that it does is polarize people, clog your servers, and misrepresent reality to many people that don't understand the difference between your poll and say a Zogby poll with +/- 3% accuracy. Liberals that despise Palin revel in the polls high unqualified numbers, and conservatives vow to never support PBS again. Everybody loses except the left-wing extremists that cite and misrepresent your poll numbers in their efforts to sway an election and instill fear, doubt, and mistrust amongst the general populus. And unless you're leftists that subscribe to 'the ends justify the means', you should be ashamed of your actions, apologize to the readership, and remove the poll altogether. Poster: Wayne Gilbert Comment: If you want to compare qualifications, then compare Obahma with Sara Palin. He's running for president, our leader. He has no qualifications for the office. She has run a government. She's more qualified to run for president than he is. Poster: Susan Comment: Please don't delude yourself, this poll was never scientific or reliable. It was always going to be skewed toward your viewers' political leanings (liberal). If your goal with the poll was to encourage more visitors to the site, then it would seem to be a success. If your goal was to encourage more diverse visitors to your site, then it is a resounding success. Most media sites would be thrilled with the increased traffic. So, the real question is why aren't you? Poster: michael Comment: as said a few times - if this poll shows nothing more than 'mobilization' of the left versus the right, then the original question has no bearing. If the right will unquestionably vote 'yes' and the left vote 'no' - then it is not an answer, but indeed a 'tug-o-war' Anyone who stands on the right and says that Palin is qualified are not facing the amazing volume of information that suggests she is not - and given McCain's age and health, this is not a joking matter. I shudder to think of this world subjected to another 4 years of republican mis-rule, no matter who would be on the ticket - with THIS lineup, I am horrified. Poster: Jim E Comment: One VOTE, one computer, I agree. November 4th is the only vote that counts. Poster: Dianne Alexander Comment: I have monitored your poll for over a week and find it interesting that percentages continued to go against her until both sides reached 49%....it hasn't changed in over three days! It amazes me how anything relative to this woman is either protected, twisted or just plain made up. Why can't you people just accept the fact that she is a dupe; put on the public stage as a distraction to the semi-senile, hot tempered and militaristic candidate that reached in the hat and pulled out her name? Poster: Dianne Alexander Comment: I have monitored your poll for over a week and find it interesting that percentages continued to go against her until both sides reached 49%....it hasn't changed in over three days! It amazes me how anything relative to this woman is either protected, twisted or just plain made up. Why can't you people just accept the fact that she is a dupe; put on the public stage as a distraction to the semi-senile, hot tempered and militaristic candidate that reached in the hat and pulled out her name? Poster: Btnek Comment: Single Question polls with no controls are useless in all situations that I can think of at this moment. I see Sen. McCain and Sen. Biden as Presidential, although neither would be my first choice for either party. I see Sen. Obama and Gov. Palin as Vise Presidential material. Both are qualified for that position. Shoot for that matter I could be too. The people in general have no say in the choice of a VP. That is something worth complaining about and doing something about. In most situations the VP is a non-player who has limited resposibilities until called upon to fill the Presidents shoes. The people, as I understand it, even the people selected to vote at the conventions have little say in the choice. That seems dangerous to me. Gov. Palin, how many people had a clue who she was before the VP choice? The fact that she said yes to the request from Sen. McCain is as big a mystery as how she was selected in the first place. I would like to know a lot more about the HOW selected. Poster: Lucas Comment: Everyone seems to be hard on Palin, but what about Obama? Tell me what makes him qualified to even be running for President. He's got about as much experience as she does and he's the main man on the ticket. What the media is doing is ludicrous. Bash certain people but not bring out the truth on other candidates. It's ludicrous. Where does this make sense in anyone's brain? Well, I guess some are just infidels. Poster: jimmya Comment: The real question is not whether Sarah Palin in qualified to be named as VP. It should be whether a street 'community organizer' like Barrack Hussein Obama is qualified to be running for President on a mainstream national ticket. What a joke! Sarah Palin has far more executive experience to Obama's none; has the political history of negotiating high-stakes agreements with other executives to Obama's none and has managed to do all this while raising a soldier and a wonderful American family. Obama has shown to be an arrogant, simple-minded America-hating jerk. The premise of the poll question belies the underlying bias PBS has regarding this Presidential campaign. Grow up. Poster: Nick Comment: Apparently you lack the experience (or incentive) to produce a valid web poll, so please do us a favor and refrain from this kind of chicanery until you learn how the web works. Cookie tracking alone is completely worthless since the cookies are completely under the control of the desktop user. You need some form of IP and server-side tracking. I also question the statistical accuracy since results of the rest were rounded down to 0%. So if 2% is missing, that could easily be 3 or 4%. This means you also have a a problem in how you aggregrated the data. There are other problems here, but that's a good start. -Nick Internet Systems Mercenary Poster: Stephanie Comment: I think that Sarah Palin is a woderful person, but unlike our current Vice-President who is running the country and the President who is destroying it and being the official spoke's person, Palin will not have a voice. I believe she is a pawn. She is the replacement for the Hilary Clinton's votes that were undecided and guided by the struggle for women. I would had loved to had seen a woman as our US leader. God knows who runs the home, the finances, raises the children, and make sure all the warranties, batteries in the smoke detector are changed, upgrade the mobile phones and insurances are up to date. This may sound small to some and there are some men that do these things very well, but the ones that I know can't even keep up with their socks. I think Sarah Palin is going to find herself in the a club that was made for boys and her membership will be limited. She is a beautiful woman and makes John McCain look good. (when he's not checking her ASS-SETS) As for VP it's an opportunity for her, and a mark for all women, but it is not rightfully her turn. Remember the ugly chick that made the cheerleading squad, because her daddy made a large contribution to the athletics booster club? Well Palin's the cute chick that gets a few manipulating, bogus men attention and all the undecided women. I just pray for all the canidates, because our current leadership is leaving the Country in such a mess, that presidential winner is going to have to explain and change his agenda quickly, after the numbers are layed before him. Meanwhile we will be in the parks hunting for our own food,(with homemade ammunition) and making rag weed salads (with out dressing). Poster: Greg Fassbender Comment: I think Sarah Palin is much more qualified to be VP or even president of The USA than Obama. Obama is a brilliant show/TV/media man – with absolutely no legislative accomplishments – what so ever. This was admitted by State Sen. Kirk Watson (D) on MSNBC. Who needs more information? Some qaulified comments on PBS: Misty: “As for poor Sarah....I feel very sorry for her, as she is so unqualified it is frightening to think of her having to take on such tremendous job responsibilities.” - And I feel sorry for Misty: She must be a bit out of this world: Was Ronald Reagan unqualifired? He was “only” a governor before he became a great president. Party obsession should not stop the brains from working. Marjorie Ando: Her comment is real fun. “Her education and experiences are lacking” – has she really the poorest education of all presidents? “she does not have a grasp of the issues” - ... and is governor of Alaska? Poor America! “and she certainly is not trustworthy” – what court did condemn her? Where is the proof? “We can't be looking at her as a pretty woman (she is a woman, but certainly not pretty) – what a sophisticated criteria! “and being able to read a teleprompter or mouth soundbites isn't a big deal” – have you ever listened to Obama´s “free speech” on an unrehearsed issue? Oh dear. Scott: ... is right: “...there is one member coming from the executive branch of government...SARAH PALIN!” Darlene Swaim (Prof): “then expose her for the farce she is” – What a comment. If (Prof) raelly means professor – thank God may kids have never met her. “She is an insult to 'small town values'.” – That is pure hate – nothing a brain should devellop. “ I grew up in a small town in Indiana. I still managed to get myself a good education and go to Yale and ended up professor emeritus in Arizona.” – Good for the (Prof), better for Arizona. “When you hear Palin talk it sounds like 'valley girl' who has never read a book and is proud of it.” – How very low – even for a (Prof). Again: Sarah Palin is qualified. Greg Poster: Jean At Home Comment: I appreciate that you heard our outrage and have limited votes to one per computer. That's a start. Still, I agree with many of the others who ask, why are you doing this at all? There are so many ways to game the system and there are so many people out there who know how to do it, that this idea of online polls is pretty useless. It will be interesting to see how the problems reflected here are repeated at a different level during the 'real' election. Will the election be stolen again? Will droves of voters be disenfranchised? These are the questions I'd like to see you deal with. Thanks. Poster: Dave Comment: First, this poll has no scientific basis. Second, it is obvious that the intent was to undercut Sarah Palin's candidacy. I have had enough of PBS bias toward the left. Taxpayer dollars are funding these slams, and that implies a requirement for balance. Gov. Palin has more relevant experience than Sen. Obama, yet she is only running for the second position on the ticket. Poster: Chick Comment: Polls like these are incredibly irresponsible. I am so disappointed by PBS! Poster: Bev Comment: John McCain choosing Sarah was an insult to my intelligence. I am livid that he would so underestimate my ability to assess her abilities--and his. Poster: pat Comment: How in the world can anyone think she is qualified! What must other countries think of us if we support this woman for vice president? We don't need a terrorist threat, we have the Republican party. What is up with John McCain. I would have voted for him on his military experience alone, until he picked Palin for vp. Such a worry at a time when we need a strong leader in this country. Could you picture her president? Poster: Lee Metford Comment: Where would I find the link to the Is Joe Biden qualified to serve as Vice President of the United States"e; poll? Poster: Suzanne Comment: I have been a supporter of PBS for as long as it's been on, these lop-sided reports are becoming more frequent lately. I've always considered PBS a mainstay of relately unbiased reporting but as I hear more and more of these slanted programs I'm going to have to turn them off. By the way, as an aside I was not impressed with Jim Leher's moderating for the presidential debate. He allowed too many broken rules with the candidates. Two minutes is two minutes, enough said. I also think that anyone who's a governor in the NOW has got to have a good head for government. The older guys haven't done such a fine job lately. Thanks Suzanne Poster: Karen Walsh Comment: I've read the comments and would like to comment on them. It seems many of those who commented didn't answer the question; that's the question about the Palin poll, not attacks on the individual. Isn't it about time the American people understood, Gov. Palin IS qualified? Domestic policy is severely lacking in the U.S. due to bipartisan infighting. Gov. Palin brought policy within Alaska (our largest state by the way) to order. With diplomatic aplomb removed the most injurious party problems and stabilized others. In another era, Alaska could be it's own country, she would be it's leader. To me, whether our V.P. is a man or a women, I would most rather see THIS woman walk next to the President, not as First Lady, but the Vice President. We have all forgotten, these two people agree to be together and pick those who are versed in working in foreign policy and with domestic issues. They know how to delegate authority to the proper people. I say let's not bring them down by thinking selfishly, but thinking of how this country will be well off with the McCain/Palin ticket. Yes, she is most adequate to be Vice President. Poster: ARW in Ohio Comment: I have read most of the comments and it seems to me that people are stressed over this election! I thought that this was an opinion poll but people are sounding off as if this will determine the election! Personally, I think that Sarah Palin is on the ballot because Hillary Clinton is not. I do feel that Obama dropped the ball there because McCain picked it up and the media has been running with it every since! From the beginging this has been a historical election, McCain saw his chance to cash in on that when Obama chose Bideon to run as his VP. It's amazing to me that people seem to overlook that, but that is just my opinion. Every election term the issues get lost in the politics, this term is no exception. Popularity polls will not help us deal with the crisis at hand. The way I see it, McCain has basically been in office the whole time. He agrees with everything Bush says. The issues that we are facing in America did not pop up over night. McCain has had no issue with the way things have been going for the last eight years! Let's try something, someone different! In closure, NO I do not feel that Sarah Palin is qualified to be Vice President, nor McCain for President, not because he's not qualified but because he has not seen any need to change anything over the last eight years. What's he gonna do different now? Poster: Frances Comment: Shows how biased your organization is--asking if this female is qualified. I'm sure you have way more important issues to tend to--like boosting Obama/Biden coverage to try to sway readers. The real voters know. Poster: Russ Comment: I consider myself fairly savvy when it comes to following our elections and elected officials. What upsets me is who is the media to question her qualifications? This is where it all starts. The media is by and large left and there is no doubt in my mind that if Senator McCain had chosen a male governor there would not be one shred of questioning his qualifications to assume the vice presidency. I agree with Leanne above in where is the questioning of Sen. Obama's qualifications. He is a junior senator from Illinois, and has only chaired the subcommittee on European Affairs. And according to many critics it has languished under his care. Governor Palin is the executive branch of the largest state in the Union. She has the only 24-7 active duty Air National Guard unit, which continually flies sorties near the U.S.-Russia border. She has to deal with two countries on her state's border (Russia & Canada). She does all the things the president does, only on a smaller scale (as does every governor). To me this question of qualifications is ridiculous. She's got more experience and expertise in one finger than Senator Obama has in his entire political career. Just to let you know, I'm from California and I've voted for Dianne Feinstein every election, so I vote candidate not party. Poster: Shelley Comment: Wow, what comments! you would think that this poll was the determining factor of the Presidential Election. It is not, it is an expression of free opinions because we live in a free America!!! I hope your 12th poster from HELEN reads my reply! I am so PROUD to be an AMERICAN and live in AMERICA!! HELEN You are the example of why we still have racism in this country! If you are so.. sorry to be an AMERICAN then this is a free country for you to leave there are plenty of countries you can go to... please go somewhere that you can be happy to be there!!! IT is the people who can not see any deeper than the color of skin that are racist; you are the one who pointed out what color Obama was by the way he is just as much white as he is black if it matters to anyone. I am entitled to nothing! Everythinng I have is from hard work or from Blessings that I myself do not deserve!!! Some of my closest friends are black but it does not matter if they are purple or green or black or white It is you that sees no deeper than skin color!!! I will vote YES!! for Sarah Palin not because of her color but because of her values and Integrity, because of the Love she has for Mankind and because or her proven abilities to succeed in ALL aspects of life and politics and her ability to stand up for what is RIGHT!!! Poster: Michelle S. Comment: I appreciate the cookie factor with regard to obtaining honest voting, but it would be nice to be able to go in and see how the percentages are changing. Thanks. Poster: Deedie Comment: YES! Sarah Palin is very qualfied to run as Vice President as Obama is to run for President. Sarah acknowledges our American Flag and respects the flag of the USA. Obama HE DOES NOT RESPECT OUR PLAG AND DOES NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THE FLAG OF THE USA! PLAIN for VP. Poster: Jean Comment: Your liberal reputation precedes you. Any 'poll' is just for fun - with no credibility. You've done that to yourselves by your opinion pieces, rather than any true 'reporting.' Poster: Larry Comment: She would be the best one in my book to help clean out the GOOD OLE' BOY network in Washington and get the people back into governing the country and not the politicians. Poster: paul Comment: If you would like to stop people from voting twice, cookies are useless. It's very easy for anyone to manipulate the poll and vote as many times as they want simply by deleting their cookies. what MOST proper polls do is track respondents by IP address. When someone votes, record their IP address. When they vote, scan your list of IP addresses and make sure that the person who is currently voting does not exist in your database. There are alos a LOT of things that you can easily do to stop manipulation, gaming and poll bombing. If you would like me to set this up for you (along with some other things to wort out your poll problems), contact me at paulwagorn (at) hotmail.com Poster: Paul Comment: Oy! No, no! Bad! Your organizations's snout should be pushed right in the mess you've made on the carpet of constructive communication and opinion collection. Your own explanations and qualifications and adjustments and throwing up of hands with concessions and recognitions...all underscore that this is a foolishness-stoking embarrassment, which can't be justified (or lipsticked!) as a gateway to more worthwhile substance. The balloony silliness of the isolated airy question is bad enough, more suited to a poll by Parade Magazine or a small and clumsy local news outfit. The continuing rumpus of response and mutual, bias-humping tribal enlistment throw an even bigger spotlight of shame on this thing. Look at it. Looook! Did you do that? Go to your bed! Poster: Linda Dethman Comment: Many firms, including mine, work hard to obtain reliable, valid information from survey research/polling. PLEASE STOP referring to your efforts as polling -- there is nothing, nothing scientific here, even if everyone gets one vote. If you want to gather people's opinions, just do a blog - like this one. Poster: Maggie Comment: Thanks for the explanation...while I was interested in the poll and did participate, I didn't place any more credibility in the results of this poll than I have in any other electronic or unsecured manual polls. I don't know enough about Palin to make a clear judgement---I never heard of her before this election and I doubt she knows much about the states in which I live. V.P.s are a heart beat away from a presidency and a candidate with more national experience would be my preference. The main question I have is why did Senator McCain choose such an unknown running mate with limited experience. While she may be a fine Governor for Alaska, I just don't see her experience assets in line with that of a Vice President. Poster: g Comment: this page is much more fun than the original poll page. i am glad i found it. i was sent a link to the poll page by an anti-tollerance cult that masquerades as an immigration reform group. i thought i was doing my civic duty playing david to fell the giant created by stacking hundreds of lemmings on top of each other but the hundreds of lemmings win. they get a response page to prove its really easy type some stuff and make yourself sound really dumb. and its a whole lot funnier than any snl skit. Poster: Steve Comment: I agree that allowing people to vote multiple times, regardless of how unscientific the poll is can still skew things one way or the other. Let's face it, somewhere, someone will use this poll in either for or against Palin (in this case), but whatever the poll may be in the future. That being said, many people have multiple computers, so what is to stop them from using the different computers to vote multiple times? Poster: Eric Guth Comment: Why would PBS be suddenly so concerned with preventing multiple votes on their polls? If they've been presenting polls to the public for some time, why change now? Why revise their polling system because of one poll?? They have clearly stated that the polls aren't scientific, so what does it even matter? Are their polls more scientific or accurate now? Not really. Were they concerned that the poll might show a response that actually favors Mrs. Palin? Hmm.... Poster: Ann Mary Howe Comment: The Poll may not be totally reflective in numbers, but I encourage PBS to conduct another inquiry asking voters if they believe Sarah Palin would make a good VP and why/why not? I'd like to see their comments. There are many competant, articulate and well qualified women in this country who would do a great job as VP, but Palin is silly, uninformed and disrespectful, definatley not one of them. McCain picked her on a whim thinking she was a 'pretty' good talker. I am totally incensed that this 72 year OLD man actually believes that picking a woman will corner women votes for HIM. Wake up, McCain, you crusty, filthy old man..Women aren't as naive and gullible as you obviously believe. Thank heavens you are a dying breed; it's embarrassing to have you and Palin running for office. Poster: Iowa Girl Comment: There are so many talented qualified women out there who could have been chosen. This is just a ploy by McCain to take the focus away from his age, and the issue of the economy. No substance to any of his ideas. He is trying to get the conservative, religous right to vote for him. Why not someone like Condoleza Rice! At least she knows foreign policy. Poster: Nana Comment: I believe that as a Public Broadcasting Station paid with taxpayer dollars, that you should now begin to actually represent the PUBLIC. Taxpayers dollars keep you in business and taxpayers dollars can take you out. As far as any silly polls they should be done in a different venue. Does the media have short term memory loss? The fact that Palin's daughter is pregnant is no big deal after all look at Britney Spears younger sister and all the celebrities with BUMPS and not married. LETS GET REAL! It's time to stop donating to PBS. I bet this will not be published. Poster: Misty Comment: What an uproar.....at least the polling problems revealed in the many comments here are at least somewhat educational in exploring the limits of informal surveys such as this one. As for poor Sarah....I feel very sorry for her, as she is so unqualified it is frightening to think of her having to take on such tremendous job responsibilities. Poster: Marvin Scoggin Comment: Thanks, John, for your explanation about the Sarah Palin poll. You invited feedback, so I thought I'd reply: Seems to me this sort of thing shouldn't be called a poll at all. A more appropriate label might be Free-for-all-response-fest, or Tug-o-war on Palin for VP. I agree with your assessment, viz., that your poll is more an indication of mobilization efforts by partisans on both sides than of voter opinion. Your poll results may say far more about the political orientation of the folks who frequent your web site than about the actual sentiments of high-potential voters who, in the end, will be the ones who decide whether Sarah Palin has a Pennsylvania Ave. working address next January or not. Marvin Scoggin Poster: Eileen Comment: It is unfortunate you have chosen to conduct such a worthless and stacked poll. The mere fact that the GOP conducted a campaign to get its members to poll and poll often renders your information utterly useless. Why a poll on just one candidate? Why this format? And why change the way pollers can vote mid-poll? I think you just need to negate any results from this sham. Poster: Gary B Comment: I consider the poll to be unreliable. I have never voted twice in any poll regarding the election. I guess I must have too much integrity.I have been voting in Presidential Elections since 1976. I believe that people see Sarah Palin as someone like themselves.Most of the great leaders in the world who have done good are extaordinary people. They have qualities like you have never seen or similar to other great leaders. I interested in someone who has strong leadership skills. I see nothing in her backround that demonstrates strong leadership skills. If you want a VP who can't state the economic success or policies of her running mate then have at it. If you want a VP candidate who says that Putin looks down at Alaska each time he flys to the US then elect the McCain/Palin ticket or is it the Palin/McCain ticket. Poster: Kelly Pomeroy Comment: I don't think you should conduct ANY polls on important controversial topics. There are too many ways the results can be distorted - both intentionally and unintentionally - for them to have any value. Meanwhile, people like me feel pressured to participate, even if we don't feel like it, in order to ensure that our side is adequately represented. Let the professional polling outfits determine public sentiment on the issues. They use a much more controlled and scientific approach. If you're going to conduct surveys, limit your questions to things like whether a certain program should be switched to a certain night. Poster: Carlyle Comment: Egads, this whole phenomenon of 'collecting opinions' via online polls is so silly. Sure, it's fine when you're talking about twizzlers vs snickers, because nobody is taking the results seriously. But when it comes to politics, you're crossing the line. With pundits and politicians wielding every possible advantage they can get their fingers on, this type of poll is downright unethical. It makes it appear that the public feels one way, when really the results of the poll have NO bearing on reality. You state that the purpose of these polls is to '...invite people who might not ordinarily come to our site to participate, and they encourage people to explore the deep journalism that is offered throughout NOW...' Well I have to admit, your poll get me to your site. But I have to say, I'm here with a seriously jaded view of your 'deep journalism.' Please. Let's keep these polls in the realm of the mundane and keep them out of our politics. Sincerely, Carlyle Miller Nevada City, CA Poster: Marian Comment: Is political poll-taking commensurate with the mission statement of PBS? If if is, I take issue with the mission statement. Poster: CheatedBYu Comment: We feel cheated by you. there are several of us at one location who want to vote but you stupid poll doesn't let US cast our votes. You're biased against Sarah. Poster: **** ******* Comment: I find it ironic that a liberal organization like PBS is concerned about controlling votes in an attempt to avoid illegal votes, in this case multiple votes, on Palin's fitness for the vice presidency. Now perhaps you can understand how the conservatives feel about allowing illegal votes, in that case illegal alien voters, in the real elections. Poster: Daniel Comment: Pull these polls! Not just the Palin one, all of them. They are utterly unreliable and it is easy for someone to game the system even with cookies. In 10 minutes a halfway decent programmer could write a piece of software to hit the page thousands of times, clearing the cookies each time. Nor is this a reasonable mechanism for encouraging participation. That's ridiculous. Participation in what? In the online poll? Why is that valuable? All you are doing is giving fodder to the devious and the ill-informed. By the way, saying CNN does it is a pretty low standard to measure yourselves. If the polls do not provide any accurate data--and they don't--then get rid of them and do everyone a favor. Poster: Marjorie Ando Comment: Is Sarah Palin qualified to run for VP and potentially President? No, she is not. Her education and experiences are lacking, she does not have a grasp of the issues, and she certainly is not trustworthy. We can't be looking at her as a pretty woman (she is a woman, but certainly not pretty) and being able to read a teleprompter or mouth soundbites isn't a big deal. I first voted on this survey at the beginning of the month, and seeing the results 49%-yes to 49% no didn't make sense. I rechecked today and the results? 49% yes - 49% no. Give us a break! This is ludicrous and the whole poll should be withdrawn from the web. This is not ethical nor within sound principles! Poster: Helen Comment: PBS stop the madness! This poll as well as most of the polls I'm seen are outright silly. I'm sick and tired of these meaningless attempts to sway me to vote one way or another. What this does is divide a an already divided America. We pretend that racisism is not an issue is this country, but it is and always will be. I am ashamed to be an American at this time more than ever in my life. American is full of stupid people. The last comment I read was from Leanne asking why you weren't running a poll about Barack Obama. The polls are not comparing Palin to Biden as it should be, but Obama to Palin? In this country black men are seen as less than white women even when they are clearly more qualified in almost all cases. America needs to stop pretending and admit that Most white will not vote for any black person running for president. White women should be insulted that McCain selected Palin. She's clearly not qualified. And Obama should not have selected Clinton as his running mate. Has any other presidential candidate selected their opponent as their running mate? I have always believed that white people think they are entitled to everything whether they deserve it or not. Oprah should not have Palin on her show (white women). Why are you demanding she put Palin on instead of McCain? Isn't Obama is running against McCain? I know this post will get lots of negative comments, but at least I'm realistic. Wasn't the real reason McCain wanted to bow out of the debate was because of the kkk supporting him in Ms? Let's at least be honest. Other country's think America is full of superficial people where if you demean certain groups you can get ahead, because in the end you'll still be the (racail slur) that white america calls you. Goodbye PBS, you're off my list, my daughter's list, and my future grandchildren's list. Poster: Donna Comment: The Sarah Palin poll is frivolous and only adds to the dumbing down of our political process. You should be ashamed for hosting it. It's as informative as what I would hear if I stumbled into a random collection of folks under a street lamp discussing the election. Please give us thoughtful news and commentary, not heated opinion. Poster: GL Comment: All the poll measures is the Right Wing's ability to marshall their minions to make it appear that Americans want a pit bull with lipstick as their VP. Poster: Buffalo Girl Comment: Howdy, My initial reaction to the poll is, if I vote I will be contributing to the division and descent into chaos this country has been going through for the last eight years....I voted anyway, hold onto your butts! Poster: scotpiper Comment: PBS is a well known liberal organization with a liberal audience. That alone skews the results of any poll you have towards a liberal result. Conservatives mobilizing themselves to come and vote simply balances things a bit, but the results really mean nothing. Just because someone comes to your site to vote in a poll from the comfort of their own home, doesn't mean they will get out and vote in November. Poster: Susan Alcorn Comment: I think the question is a poor one. YES, Palin is qualified if we are considering the legal qualifications: that she be a U.S. citizen and old enough. NO, if we are considering her lack of experience and common sense as well as her divisive judgmental attitudes. I vote NO; we need leadership, not righteousness. Poster: Cindy Lou Comment: Please remove either the poll from the web, or your disclaimer (which would assume you have scratched the results or at least scratched the results prior to adding cookies to restrict number of votes). But I'd prefer you removed the poll. I trust PBS for factual and objective reporting (at least better than Fox). So messed up poll results make me wonder what else PBS is misrepresenting. Not to mention if this poll was a means of drawing people to NOW's site, that was a real gamble as you have now contributed to the propaganda supporting a very dangerous candidate, in order to boost your own ratings. Indeed I figured something was messed up with the poll when I saw the results. There is no way Palin has that kind of support from the American public. But you may have helped her out a bit... Poster: Scott Comment: Why your poll specifically isolated Sarah Palin should be the real question. The constitution only requires that you be 35 years of age, lived in the US for the last 14 years and be a US citizen. Since the government position we will soon vote for is President, and this position is with the executive branch, then none of the candidates are truly qualified! They all come from the legislative branch of government, which serves a completely different purpose. Oh, wait...there is one member coming from the executive branch of government...SARAH PALIN! Poster: Heather FPO Comment: Anyone using clear, unbias knowledge can see that Sarah Palin is not qualified to be VP not by a long shot. No poll can prove otherwise. Poster: Darlene Swaim (Prof) Comment: The Sarah Palin poll is worthless. It was interesting to find out that CNN does the same kind of polling. So yours and CNN's are worthless. This year's huge 'youth' vote is impossible to poll -- cell phones are not accessed by the national polling media. So we shall all see what happens soon. I think you should have done several interviews with Palin and if she wouldn't do it, then expose her for the farce she is. She is an insult to 'small town values'. I grew up in a small town in Indiana. I still managed to get myself a good education and go to Yale and ended up professor emeritus in Arizona. When you hear Palin talk it sounds like 'valley girl' who has never read a book and is proud of it. Ask what books she read lately. Poster: Sudha Comment: Politics of polling, just like politics of the bail out is repugnant. Double standards used against any minority, be it gender, color or religion based, is equally repugnant. Issues at hand are still the best way to judge a candidate's qualification. Ultimately even that yard stick may not hold if the person chosen has no idea how to get his/her beliefs come to fruition. Simply put, even with all the necessary information at my disposal, I am hard pressed to make a correct decision that is good for the community and not just for my self. Unfortunately, in this world of survival of the fittest, one ends up resorting to same dirty tactics one hates to see being practiced by others. Poster: Michael Meador Comment: If you want to be creative in promoting PBS and your website, go for it. However, using the word poll to describe your what-group-can-muster-the-most-votes-for-Palin page is an educational disservice to the public and an insult to the institutions who attempt to conduct scientifically valid polls. I expect higher standards from PBS! Poster: Pete Forsyth Comment: Add my name to the list of those who feel this poll unnecessarily tarnihes PBS and NOW's reputations. Is audience chasing now part of your mission? Poster: brian Comment: Good to see you implemented 1 vote system, even though as one blogger said, the only way to follow vote was to recast ones vote. I received this from conservative friend (whom I don't think knew this was a doubled edged sword), but still I passed this along to both liberal & conservative friends. After all this is America & it is still called a Democracy! 9/27 Poster: Carolyn Gnam Comment: Polls will always be subject to outside influences and never totally accurate, however if you were taking things for face value...maybe people just really do think that Palin IS qualified to be VP. Poster: Farm Boy Comment: It seems this poll is doing what PBS really wants, bringing traffic to its website. The poll is so poorly conceived that it is a disgrace to PBS and to the American people. Poster: Walter Reebe Comment: Polls are obviously taken very seriously by most people. Even those people who deride them as inaccurate non-news at best and covert propaganda at worst recognize their power to make an impact on the minds of those who read them. I'm not surprised by the outcry from both ends of the political spectrum over this PBS debacle. I find the fact that PBS had such a thing as an online poll disturbing even if there hadn't been this controversy over double-voting. Online polls are not journalism. However I'm dumbfounded by the response from the Executive Producer of NOW who has dismissed this whole episode by condescendingly writing: 'And let's keep in mind the purpose of these weekly polls. They invite people who might not ordinarily come to our site to participate, and they encourage people to explore the deep journalism that is offered throughout NOW's nearly 10,000 web pages and 1,000 video streams'. Apparently Mr. Siceloff thinks that these online polls are just a bit of fluff that are not to be taken seriously. From the response to the Palin poll I'd have to say he's mistaken. My real fear is that Mr. Siceloff is happy about this controversy because it has drawn people to the web site. It has also tarnished the journalistic integrity I felt that PBS had I'm chilled by the fact that a PBS Executive Producer would use the means justifying the ends argument to dismiss the public outcry. Poster: Elena Comment: polls like this are worthless as most polls, when I voted the yes and no where When I voted it read: Yes 49%, No 49%, Undecided 0%. I logged on a few minutes ago and 33 % percent had voted YES, 67% NO....PBS hates and is anti- conservatives ther are not fair Poster: David Comment: Your question is wrong. Obama dont even qualify for a normal educated person and certainly not his angry mean uneducated wify. These muslim terorists are taking over and left and dems are suckers for it. wake up and read some news and their way of life and achievements. whoever vote for obama certainly does not like america and is against all humanity and must go to have his brain checked. Poster: Barbara Van Comment: Your question did not ask was Sarah Palin qualified to be President, it asked qualified to be Vice-President! Yes she is, we hope if she is elected she will stay V-P for 4 years, Let's Pray for McCain. barbara Poster: Sandy Comment: The inherent problem with all these sorts of polls is that the reader/viewer/listener is asked to make a judgement call based on snippets of information that the journalist sees fit to provide. Few have really considered any of the questions in depth. I would venture to guess that the majority of the people participating in the poll have listened to about 4 hours total of what Sarah Palin is reported to do, believe or think. They probably heard one or two things that they either really liked or totally hated and that's what drove their opinion. As a long time resident of Alaska I've been an observer of her governing abilities and personal qualities and even though I have a better perspection of her than most Americans, I still am totally unqualified to judge because I really don't know the realities of the vice presidency. Poster: Htbear Comment: As much as I am sure that your only reason for taking this poll is to use the results, after you 'massage' them, to influence the electorate that only Obama the holy messiah can 'save' the nation, I will tell you, something. I have already made MY decision, and, I'm afraid, it is NOT for the messiah! Stick THAT in your published results, if you dare. Barring that, I'll see you the day after the only poll that matters worth a hoot, ELECTION DAY!!!!! ELECT THE HERO AND THE HOTTIE!!!! Poster: Rosina Comment: Shame on PBS for compromising its standards with this meaningless poll. Palin supporters were notified of this poll early on so that the results were stacked in Palins favor. Sarah Palin is not someone who will heal this country but instead will deepen the wounds. Poster: KarenKay Comment: I'm really glad you did the ONE vote deal, Thanks! Poster: Deny Clark Comment: the poll is meaningless under the circumstances of multiple votes by same individuals. Suggest you scrap it & start over one vote per computer. It is extremely misleading to publish results when it was done in this manner. I'm disappointed that you have continued to post results without a start over Poster: Ruth Comment: The poll, despite the after-thought of doing something to prevent people from stuffing the ballot box is a disgrace to the reputation of PBS, our PUBLIC network, which we have always valued for its unbiased reporting, independence from sponsors and from political bias. Or is that just a delusion we've lived with all these years? At least were the Fox network to put forth a poll of this type, the public would be aware that what comes from Fox comes with a recognized bias. For PBS to violate our trust is criminal. What are we to think going forward? Poster: Nekai Comment: Thank you for instituting the cookie system to avoid having groups with agendas squash the opinions of the general public. As for Sarah Palin, after her so-called acceptance speech, I see her as no more or less than an archetype - the cheerleader mean-girl with unbridled ambition, willing to step on anyone, lie, misrepresent herself and use sarcasm (the defense of the weak) to mock and demean others while claiming to be a victim of her opponents - accusing them of using the tactics she is employing. She is small minded and mean spirited and dangerous because, like those cheerleaders, she attains a certain adulation which makes other small-minded women want to be her, and small-minded men attracted to her. Her interviews reveal her for who she really is. No wonder the GOP wants to limit them! And remember - George W was a cheerleader too - they're cut from the same slimy mold and equally poorly equipped to lead this nation anywhere but down. Poster: Mary Ann Comment: I am extremely dissapointed in the lack of professionalism of PBS in conducting this poll. A poll of this type is not only NOT scientific, but just plain silly when you are not even preventing more than one vote from each IP address. Again...unprofessional to the degree of silliness on the part of PBS. You have diminished the proud heritage of PBS. Poster: Susan St. John Comment: Many years ago I read that who ever is ahead in the polls generally loses. On the otherhand, I would like to see PBS do the same poll on grandpa Mccain whose forgetfulness is apparent. Poster: Saida Comment: My husband and I own just one computer and I am the registered user. However, he,too would like to submit his opinion and vote on subjects which are important to him, such as the Palin vote. How can he do it? Please advise. Poster: Jane Comment: 1. I am amazed that you were not already aware of the Freepers. They pride themselves on some members sending literally thousands of responses to any polls that don't block multiple submissions. 2. Your account of your surprise that people were voting multiple times does not make it clear what you did at that point. But I suspect that instead of doing the reasonable thing, which would have been to start over at zero, you left all those multiple votes in the count. That shows a lack of understanding of your own undertaking. 3. Aside from problems with your method, your question itself is not one that truly allows for a difference of opinion. No doubt you consider it nonpartisan. But that's like having a question Do you think the sky is generally bright orange? The FACT is that Palin does not have the qualifications for VP, because the qualifications for VP are the same as those for President - - given that the VP is there to replace the Pres if necessary. Any list of qualifications for President would clearly FACTUALLY disqualify her. So what some of your voters are saying is We don't care that she isn't qualified because we are so committed to George Bush-style policies, we would vote for anyone who is on the ticket. Or, I have no idea at all what the qualifications for VP are, and I don't care. Poster: Faye Comment: I am a long time supporter of PBS, but having learned hat some people were allowed to vote more than once in this poll and then have others limited to one vote infuriates me. I can understand why you made he decision to limit votes, but I think you should acknowledge this in your information about the poll and therefore declare that it has no results. Until I see this, I refuse to suppport PBS again. Poster: dennis wilson Comment: With America facing historic debt, 2 wars, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc. Educational Background: Obama: Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations. Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude & Biden: University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in political science. Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.) vs. McCain: United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 of 899 (legacy appointment) & Palin: Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study University o f Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism Now, which team are you going to hire ? Poster: Bob Comment: We have a term in academia called reification - the idea that something abstract or unproven becomes a taken-for-granted reality. Regardless of one's opinion of Palin, these sorts of polls do no good whatsoever because they can influence public opinion in and of themselves, hence the mobilization and split results. The only lesson we learn from such polls is the extent to which interest groups are motivated to game the results, and this is why legitimate randomly sampled polls should really be the only forum for such topics. Poster: Dave Huling Comment: I read John Siceloff's comment about the Sarah Plain pole and have one large question. Why NOT ask the same question about EVERY OTHER candidate? Poster: Dot Null Comment: The poll cannot be accurate in any meaningful way. Any use of this poll calls into doubt the professionalism of the parties that might site this data. This poll has severely tarnished PBS's reputation in my book. Poster: Dot Null Comment: The poll cannot be accurate in any meaningful way. Any use of this poll calls into doubt the professionalism of the parties that might site this data. This poll has severely tarnished PBS's reputation in my book. Poster: gayle Comment: I didn't want to vote multiple times, I just like to track the responses. Which means I have to vote again. Any way for folks like me to keep abreast of the polls without seeming to try to vote over and over again? also, how do you handle a shared computer with several users in a household? Thanks! Poster: Agnes Comment: I am finding that the more polling is done, the more meaningless it has become. Poster: alan aardvark Comment: The survey appears to have been stacked at the beginning by early e-mail promotion among Palin supporters, who were unfettered by any restriction on multiple entries per person. Entry-restriction appears to have gone into effect later, about the same time that the anti-Palin camp got in gear. Unless the survey is discarded and started afresh, the pro-Palin camp has an unfair advantage. Other writers' complaints are still valid, including but not limited to: It's not a controlled fair random poll, so marketing within groups still has an effect; and now with restrictions, different individuals in a family with a single computer can't express their opinions individually; and these kinds of surveys, no matter how common in the media, do not serve to accurately inform the public. An informed democracy requires unbiased information, and that is not what these kinds of polls produce. While this may be the kind of poll other news organizations run, just because everyone else is doing it doesn't make it right. I expect more from PBS. The simplest thing to do at this point would be to retract the results of the poll entirely. Poster: Chris Comment: As previously stated a couple of times. IP addresses would be a much more effective way to approach this, while not perfect as an IP address is not bound to a person or machine in all cases. The majority of people with dynamically assigned IP address will usually have them for at least a day, if not for the entirety of their connection to their service provider (until reset or disrupted). Using cookies is not effective. I can sit at the Poll page, cast a vote, simultaneously I can have my cookie list open (and filter by PBS) and delete the cookies that I receive. Go back to the poll, rinse and repeat. While it may prevent the majority of users from double voting, it is by no means a solution. Compounding that with IP logged votes would ensure a much more accurate poll. Check to see if votes from an IP are logged multiple times within a given period of time (I'd say 24 hours)... If there are multiples, leave the first vote from a specific IP to be tabulated, and remove any others received from that IP. Poster: Sarah Comment: 1) News about polls should be banned outright. Why should anyone care who's ahead, or what other unaccountable people think about a candidate in deciding how to vote. Please just present the candidates' views, policy statements, and bona fides and let people THINK. 2) Using cookies does not assure one person/one vote -- it assures one computer one vote, sort of. People with access to multiple computers get to vote multiple times; people with access to public computers only (like in the public library)share that one vote per computer. People who know how to delete a cookie get to vote as often as they want. 3) The trouble will polls (and pundits) is that when they are proved wrong, they don't go away. Poster: Lisa Henry Comment: The next and even better question is - Is Sarah Palin qualified to be the President of the United States? I think she would be a vindictive tie-breaker in the Senate and a stellar attendee of funerals, but she would be a disaster as a President. Put both questions on the poll and see the difference. It's one thing to be a heartbeat away, but to be the heartbeat? puhleeeeze. Poster: Kathleen Gabriel Comment: Many people have not had a basic statistical course. Thus, many people may not understand that when you post the statement, --This is not a scientific poll--that what that really means that you do have not a random sample, and that who votes are self-selected individuals and not representative of the population. Therefore, this is NOT a valid poll and the results are trustworthy, reliable, or accurate of the general public. When you conduct this kind of poll (as well as others in the media), all you do is contribute to the basic math ignorance that many people in this country suffer from. Why in the world would a reputable news source promote (and then report) a poll that is totally invalid and unreliable? If you want to conduct e a poll--please do it right! Poster: Melissa Comment: Why run a poll asking whether Palin is qualified and not ask the same question of Joe Biden. Your bias is obvious, as always. Poster: elmer Comment: First, for PBS to engage in such a poll in the first place dispells the notion that you are truly impartial or continue to represent the public as a whole. I've been donating to PBS for 25 years and think that's no longer appropriate. Second, since you feel it's appropriate to engage in such a poll, do you intend to run polls on Obama wiht his even thinner resume (than Palin) or Biden's fitness to assume the Presidency. As much as I like Biden, he can't get through a simple interview without inadvertantly saying something insulting, stupid or outrageous. If the question is valid for Palin (and it probably is), a critical look shows it to be equally valid for Obama and Biden. A last thought - If Obama and Palin were both running for President, I would question how we ended up with two such inexperienced, unqualified candidates. But Palin is not running for President and I suspect her being bright will make up for any deficiencies she has in experience. Obama's record clearly suggests as President he will just show up where ever he's told to be, give a speech about either change or leadership, say something about our need to work together, then vote present. I'm sure our adversaries in the middle east will find that to be overwhelming. (Jimmy Carter the Second?) Biden, on the other hand, might do fine as President as long as he never talks to anyone in a public or critical forum -- and I suspect a President could actually pull that off. (is that an accident or is this a wing of the Liberal Women's Organization [formerly NOW]) Poster: Paul Comment: Where's the community organizers poll? Give me a break, he helped people. Spreading Alinsky's anti American agenda is helping people? We are talking about running a country! I dare you to post this, unilke my other comment you came up with the lame excuse that the syntax was wrong! Poster: FGA Comment: I think polls are misleading,no matter who sponsors them. Palin was supposedly pregnant when she married. Her daughter is trapping some poor sex loving hockey player into marriage. She is called moraL? Not only is she not moral, but she has no experience on the world stage, on which one of the main players is the US. Of course we must remember that Eve wasn't married to Adam before they began populating the world. Palin may be qualified to become Vice President, because that takes no qualifications (can you spell potato?), but I think the question should really be whether she is qualified to become President in case of unthinkable catastrophe involving our President. I say a resounding NO, and she exhibits many of the attributes of a dictator. Thank goodness none of the Capitol police are related to her by marriage! Poster: Sophie Comment: If NPR admits that the poll is still not scientific, even with the cookie registration, then why has it not been taken down? Seems like a cheap trick to draw people to the NOW site. Seems very un-NPR-like. Please remove the poll! Poster: Dorothy Jersin Comment: The comments I have read on this site reveal that not all Americans are as dumb as the chain emails I get indicate. It is my hope that the adage about it being impossible to fool all the people all of the time will matter in the election. Palin is scary but so too is a public that accepts misleading polls. Poster: Baltimore Comment: I think it might be more interesting if only one vote per person was allowed but the poll was only presented to the user after watching one of the online videos such as the one regarding women in politics, etc. Poster: Dee L Comment: The question actually should read, Is Sarah Palin qualified to be president of the United States? With all due respect to those who wish to see the question asked of Obama, all of us voters know so very little about any of these candidates as our information largely is filtered through media. Thus, to some extent we have to go with our gut instinct. When I watch Obama speak, I can see a president; when I watch Palin speak, I can't. Poster: Llani O'Connor Comment: This is too important a question to be asked in this manner. Even with cookies, it is misleading and whatever the outcome, you are certainly, I hope, smart enough to know how it will be used. I think you should totally withdraw the poll and NEVER do anything like this again. PBS is supposed to be fair. You weaken your credibility in many eyes, mine included. Poster: Marguerite von Elfenau Comment: Please PBS leave the polling to the experts in that field. I, like many others, am sad that PBS has fallen into the same kind of reporting as some of the quasi news organisations have. Please stay out of the polling all together from now on. I too am an Obama supporter and I am looking forward to a President who has the intelligence and mental capacity to clearly evaluate a problem and has the willingnes to find solutions with us all in mind, not just the super wealthy.(Like the current administration) Mr. Obama has shown great leadership in who he picked for his vice president his was a careful and serious decision. Mr McCain who's decision was purely aimed at getting HIM elected. Poster: LINDA Comment: THE QUESTION POSED IS IN REFERENCE TO THE QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE THAT PALIN BRINGS TO THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE; NOT BECAUSE SHE HAS OVARIES. IF SHE WERE A MAN WITH THE SAME BACKGROUND, THE SAME QUESTIONS WOULD COME UP. THE OTHER CANDIDATES HAVE MORE COMMON EXPERIENCE OF CANDIDATES THAT RUN IN A RACE OF THIS CALIBER AND MAKES THEIR EXPERIENCE MORE EASILY JUDGED. THAT SAID, QUALITY BECOMES A MAJOR ISSUE HERE. I FIND IT INTERESTING THAT IN A POLL WHERE THE MAIN ISSUE IS QUALITY, ATTENTION TO A WELL CONDUCTED POLL WAS NOT MADE. A RUSH TO MAKE NEWS WAS THE PRIME OBJECTIVE. ALL THAT REMAINS IS THE SAME QUESTION BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER THE VOTE; A QUESTION OF QUALITY REMAINS UNANSWERED. Poster: steve Comment: At the very least if you must use polls like this to lure people to your site, then label the poll as just for fun or unscientific something like that. PBS has really went down hill over the years. Maybe time to pull the plug! Poster: Beck Comment: This is actually a pole of how many democrats versus republicans decided to vote on a PBS website factoring in the probability that one part might contact more friends in an e-mail similar to the one that I rec'd telling them to log on to vote. Poster: PB Comment: If you are supposed to be neutral in politics, since you receive State and public funding, why then are you showing the screen shot of whether Sarah Palin is qualified to be the Vice President with the NO box pre-selected? Shouldn't you have cleared this before posting? Or, should we consider your political leanings before we decide to send you money? Poster: Suzanne Comment: The problem is, that you (PBS) are a respected news org. and your results can be 'used' by others to give credibility to their side. Now that the public has had a chance to 'see and hear' Palin ..... especially the interview with Couric .... surely it's not STILL evenly split? If so ... we are in a lot of trouble! Poster: Suzanne in Tucson Comment: Of COURSE the Governor of ANY state in the U.S. is qualified to hold the Vice Presidency, as WELL AS the Presidency. It's an executive office, which is more than either Senator running for that office has ever held. Having her children with her in no way disqualifies her. Barak Obama is the same age as she is, with children in the same age as Sarah's. Let's put up a pole asking if Senator Barak Obama is qualified to be President! Poster: Claire Comment: Polls to register opinions have become indistinguishable from scientific studies, often because news and entertainment media cite polls as if they were substantiated by reliable, measurable data collected in a controlled environment (in other words, a scientific study) and the vast majority of the public has no idea of the difference. I say cease and desist running polls on any topics where the mis-perception of their value leads to the gullible thinking they've just been handed FACTS when they've actually been handed OPINIONS. Poster: Monika McLaughlin Comment: PBS has a short video on Sarah Palin on their website. Also included is a poll that asks: Is Sarah Palin qualified to be VP? I logged on a few minutes ago and 40% percent had voted YES, 60% NO. Let's turn this around..... You don't have to give your name or email address in order to vote. It's very simple. Forward this to your friends as well. This is a liberal network with a liberal audience. Let's surprise them! Here's the link: After you vote, please pass this message to others of like mind. I usually don't forward something like a poll, but pbs is our Public Broadcasting Network. They should be unbiased, not liberal or conservative. I don't want them reporting that most Americans think Sarah Palin is unqualified when most conservatives don't watch their liberal station. I just voted; it is easy. I just forwarded. Poster: Ian Citti Comment: It is very easy to wipe out your cookies and start again - it might depend on what you put in the cookie, I suppose. Poster: Chrisc Comment: Thank you so much for clarifying about the poll for Sarah Palin. It is somewhat comforting that one can only vote once per computer, but as you mentioned, it is still partial to the mobilization efforts of groups from each party and is thus only creating more divisiveness in this country. In general I think it is dangerous to do this kind of polling. This poll gives a false sense of what people really think, and thus only magnifies sensationalist hype. The official polling organizations for the Presidential election are especially flawed this year because there is not sufficient data on ownership of cell-phones. Pollsters cannot possibly normalize the results of their polls accurately to compensate for the lack of cell phone users in their interviews. Electoral-vote.com has a study that shows the growth of cell phone use from 2003-2006, citing that most of the cell phone users are around college age, but there has been such an explosion of cell phone-only users across the board in the past two years, it is impossible to conjecture what the vote may be for cell-phone only users. After my fourth email requesting my Democratic vote to counter the overwhelming Republican support for SP on NOW I felt the need to express my feeling that this poll paralleled the Dancing With the Stars voting. In 2007 there were thousands of bloggers expressing their rather hostile views about whether Marie Osmond should still be on the show, given that it was clear she was not on the same level as the rest of the remaining dancers. There was a large debate about whether this should be a fan-driven contest or a competition which stood on merit. There were petitions to change the voting system, which continued to be censored shortly after they appeared on the web. There were rather hostile blogs relating to the past two Presidential elections. Fairness in this Presidential election is a big question that has flown through the bloggasphere. Between the propaganda, the rigging of polling stations, the Supreme Court decision in 2000 and polls like this, Americans deserve a polling system which has integrity and accuracy, even for PBS. Poster: Jack Comment: We all must realize that a poll of the nature is statistically biased toward internet users, and of that group, those who hear about and respond to the poll. Wonder what the demographics look like compared to the American Public... Poster: Larry Comment: A cookie? No big deal; if the system won't let you vote with cookies disabled, I just go in and delete it from the Temporary Internet files after every vote. Geeze. You should be recording the source IP address. That means one vote per connection - and that's it. Yeah; I know - that will disenfranchise a few (VERY few) people, with it WILL put an end to this fraud. Poster: ANDY Comment: This is a bad idea that could backfire. I received a link to this site from my 80 year old dad in Florida with the implication that Republican's will flood the site with yes votes. Enough said. Leave the polls to the pollsters please. Just be good reporters, that's good enough. Poster: Darrell Comment: Isn't it amazing that there is NO questioning of Obama's qualifications, only a governor's. Obama's only qualification is his ability to read a teleprompter and his socialist leanings. How about a poll on these? Poster: Jane H Comment: I waw unable to vote in the Palin poll.However, I do want to say that I believe Palin is inept, incapable,inarticulate, and anti-woman. She is a perfect running mate for McCain who will follow in the Bush tradition Poster: Sallie Comment: Now, with all of Biden's extreme gaffes, why not ask the public if HE is qualified to be VP? The very fact that he said FDR was President and speaking on TV about the crash of '29 is incredible. What a sense of history. Reminds me of another super intelligent VP who invented the Internet. Poster: Alex Comment: I think you guys shouldn't be running a poll like this. First off, it is in no way scientific. Whether you allow people to vote multiple times or not. It's not a representative sample of the nation, or registered voters. Anyone anywhere in the world of any age can vote unlimited times. Even if you limit it to 1 vote per computer, that doesn't mean a thing. The sample of people who vote in PBS online polls is not representative of the voting public. So removing the multiple vote policy should not be a way to claim the poll is now legitimate. Get a clue and read up on how polls are conducted. Please put a disclaimer that the poll is not scientific. If all polls were like this, Ron Paul would be predicted to win the white house in a land slide. Poster: Nancy G.rout Comment: I would hope that PBS would have a more balanced view. I am a independent undecided voter. I think Sarah Palin is a breath of fresh air. I am sick of the entire 18 months of trashing everyone. The media certainly has done a job on Palin. Where is your poll on Biden who seldom is intelligent on any subject, just the same old politics. I have given up on watching CNN because the the bashing of McCain, it has become a sad thing that because of his age he is target for snide remarks. I may not vote for him but I admire thim for his patriotism, and his honor for fighting for our country. Poster: John Comment: Even if people could somehow be kept from voting more than once, it's still not an accurate poll, it's a measure of who can get the most people to go the page and vote. If you want to vote more than once, all one has to do is delete the cookie that gets put on your computer when you vote, and you can then vote again, repeat as many times as you want to vote. Poster: Joe Comment: I think poll's either scientific or otherwise are no indication of outcome unless they are so skewed i.e. 2%/98%. It also angers me that so many will vote based on popularity or what a biased media (right or left) says. Taking some sort of test indicating knowledge of government and candidate facts should be required! So many vote on the basis of who's going to give me free stuff, take care of me and on and on. I quite frankly am sick and tired of all of them squandering my tax dollars on wars, lazy people, bailouts and the good old boys earmarks. Campaign advertising should be outlawed, they are nothing but a bunch of half truths skewed to make the other bad. This occurs on both sides. What ever happened to truth in advertising? Poster: CVG Comment: I think in this age of technological manipulation that such a poll is a waste of time because of the mobilization efforts that will be employed by both the pros and cons. Sadly enough, this reminds me of American Idol, and this election is too serious to be treated as such. But kudos for trying to engage a debate. Poster: J Finegan Comment: So many are attacking PBS for the offering the poll; why does no one offer an criticism against those who try to manipulate it? Because PBS offers the forum for expression it is liable for the behavior of those who misuse it? Ridiculous. In any case, very effective marketing (obviously) to attract an audience to the deeper content the site offers. Oh, and that's a good thing, by the way, for those who might have been in doubt. Also, refreshing honest and sensible discussion of the poll in the About the Sarah Palin Poll commentary. Poster: Chip Heartfield Comment: Did I miss the Is Obama Qualified to be President poll? What a silly and amateurish use of your website and what a tortured explanation of why you started this out as a Vote As Often As You Like poll - by the way, that's a Chicago Democrat Party concept, isn't it? Poster: J Finegan Comment: So many are attacking PBS for the offering the poll; why does no one offer an criticism against those who try to manipulate it? Because PBS offers the forum for expression it is liable for the behavior of those who misuse it? Ridiculous. In any case, very effective marketing (obviously) to attract an audience to the deeper content the site offers. Oh, and that's a good thing, by the way, for those who might have been in doubt. Also, refreshing honest and sensible discussion of the poll in the About the Sarah Palin Poll commentary. Poster: J Finegan Comment: So many are attacking PBS for the offering the poll; why does no one offer an criticism against those who try to manipulate it? Because PBS offers the forum for expression it is liable for the behavior of those who misuse it? Ridiculous. In any case, very effective marketing (obviously) to attract an audience to the deeper content the site offers. Oh, and that's a good thing, by the way, for those who might have been in doubt. Also, refreshing honest and sensible discussion of the poll in the About the Sarah Palin Poll commentary. Poster: Eric Comment: One email address one vote. We don't get to vote multiple times at the polls, so why would anyone think that multiple email votes are in any way valid. When are you going to have the same poll question for Obama? Poster: JoPB Comment: You poll is still stupid and the results tell us little. You should not be using member money for such absurd activities. Poster: A. Spencer Barefield Comment: I'm shocked at P.B.S. for presenting such a one sided piece of right wing propaganda fluff on Palin! How about her rejection of science and belief in creationism. Or the extremely anti-sematic fanatical crackpot church she attends that preaches jews and Israel will be damned and punished for their faith with wacko preachers that believe in withcraft. She is by no means the enemy of big oil, but like big oil the enemy of wind, solar, and alternative energy. What has happened to you P.B.S.? You used to always have substance. You've made me very depressed. Poster: A. Spencer Barefield Comment: I'm shocked at P.B.S. for presenting such a one sided piece of right wing propaganda fluff on Palin! How about her rejection of science and belief in creationism. Or the extremely anti-sematic fanatical crackpot church she attends that preaches jews and Israel will be damned and punished for their faith with wacko preachers that believe in withcraft. She is by no means the enemy of big oil, but like big oil the enemy of wind, solar, and alternative energy. What has happened to you P.B.S.? You used to always have substance. You've made me very depressed. Poster: Daria Flores Comment: Why are you running poles when it seems they are manipulated so easily. Maybe it's best to just drop this form of feedback. Poster: Linda Cooksey Comment: This poll is a joke ! for the heck of it we watched as it bounced from 52 again 56 46 for an 2 % unde. to 56- 42- 0 unde. and just a few mins ago yes may be 3 mins ago its 49 -49 and 0 % Thanks for a good laugh and proving polls are a waste of time and fixed good lonly for a giggle. Linda Poster: Charlotte Comment: When anyone can bias these unofficial polls with a flood of responses in their party's favor, what of any significance does this tell you. There are those who are rabid supporters of either party. Some are thoughtful. Others are not. The McCain/Palin platform (and four more years of this party) scares the ---- out of me! What more does this administration want, when my 401(k) is dwindling as we speak? Poster: Bob Comment: Well, it's a good promotional gimmick for PBS. Calling it is more than a little misleading. You also may want to check to see whether those cookies you are feeding to us prevent one vote per computer -- or one vote per browser. Poster: Sunny Comment: I don't not believe polls are a true representation in any form but do give some indications for certain areas or medias. My first impression of Palin was a typical porn star look before the glasses get pulled off and the hair comes down... Palin's existence on the ticket is like a cartoon... a very scary bad joke. To consider her being made President is terrifying. Her running mate's aggression is also very scary. Obama is what this country has needed for a long time.. someone smart, with family values, without baggage and ego, who listens to all and then moves forward, POSITIVELY, with the best option. I only wish that the press would report that fact that along with his black race, he is also half white. The November poll will answer the real questions. Poster: Mary D Comment: Oh!my. What a web we weave when we try to decieve. PBS!!Can't you be fair and honest. Let us see the REAL numbers for a change. Poster: Nancy Comment: I have opted not to take the poll because I don't think my answer can provide an accurate representation of my feelings on the subject. Qualified is a loaded term. It can be taken in the very literal sense wherein she might be considered qualified, or at least as qualified as the next party. She has held office, has willingly suffered intense public scrutiny, has the education and the motivation to become an important public figure. Do I think she'd make a remotely good vice president? No, I do not. I think she's being used as a cute, lovable face with a family, and she's happily going along with it. I think she'll be a meak voice under McCain for education reform and a happy cheerleader for his oil plans, with no real impact on his policies despite the implication otherwise. And if she had to step up and run this country on her own, as is the vice president's part? I believe she'd simply become someone else's puppet, then. Poster: Beth Lewis Comment: This poll just goes to show how biased PBS is against conservatism, Republicans, and family values. Why don't you have a poll about whether Joe Biden is fit to be Vice President? In my opinion, he is FAR less fit to be VP than Sarah Palin, judging by his irresponsible and ridiculous comments in his recent speeches. But you won't do a poll on him because you're biased as always. Poster: Lorraine Duvall Comment: I doubt that you are receiving a vote on about Sarah Palin's qualifications. It's more about her popularity with certain groups. Stick with the issues rather than popularity polls. Poster: Kathy Gardner Comment: I think you did the right thing to prevent multiple votes from the same person. Poster: Bob Crowe Comment: Your poll is absolutely not scientific. You are preparing us to complete a voting extravaganza far ahead of the November voting date, and creating an unfair resolution for both parties. I just heard that Sen. Biden was going to withdraw from this race, due to health issues. You should check to see if the Democrats are afraid of Sarah and have decided to re-enter Hillary Clinton as the VP Candidate. Poster: Kelly Comment: This isn't a poll, it's a measure of how much time one side or another has on their hands to forward emails. Do a real investigative poll, use fair and accurate samples and do REAL statistics--online polls like this are totally inaccurate and misleading. And no, I don't support the McCain-Palin travesty of a ticket, not one bit. Poster: Peter B. Comment: I was very disappointed to see this sort of gimmick being used by PBS, much less NOW, a program for which I have had a lot of respect. An unscientific poll is a worthless poll, except to propagandists. In spite of the convoluted rationales offered, it provides no valid or useful information to anyone. Worse, it is deceptive -- in its effects if not in its intent. It inevitably carries with it the aura of factual evidence no matter how many disclaimers may surround it. If you want to let people express their views, let them post comments -- that at least lets us know somthing about how (some)other people think. We desperately need more clarity, critical judgement, and integrity in our political discourse. This sort of poll only moves us in the opposite direction. I consider it irresponsible. Poster: Brad D Comment: Lets be realistic people. Polls are an intention to geta thumbnail sketch of public opinion. Can they be abused? Of course they can. Can they be fair or unfair depending on your point of view? Lets wake up and reckognize the intent and stop complaining because we personally feel our rights are abused. To the lady with only 1 computer and 4 voters. Each person can have a separate identity and each identity should be able to vote. Regarding Sarah Palin, it is not whether she is qualified to be Vice President for me but rather if something happens to John McCain can she run our country? Its nice to reach out to average people as an average hockey mom but my feeling is that an average person cannot and is not qualified to run our great country. She is just not qualified enough. Poster: Claudia Finseth Comment: One person-one vote is our democratic standard, but it is hard to do on computers because some people don't have them, or one computer is shared amongst an entire family and several generations. Still, it was clear in the beginning that the YES vote on your website was run up by Palin-McCain supporters who were voting multiple times, perhaps tens of times, and that really made the poll illegitimate and quite useless. I'd like to see you repeat the poll with the cookie or with some kind of sign-in that guarantees one person-one vote. I am interested in an accurate vote. Poster: Rick Comment: I like to listen to both sides.... do you Mr S?? if so are we going to have an is Biden qualified poll?? or better yet is Obama qualified... no, I didn't think so. I'm independent but the liberal leanings of the media is really pushing me away from their cause. When did reporters stop being such. Poster: J.B. Leslie Comment: Why the whole debate about cookies? Seems like once PBS found the poll results were not what they had hoped, they yank the page and make up a story about cookies. Why didn't they do that when the numbers were 62% against, 38% for Palin? Furthermore, why is PBS wasting tax-payer money running un-scientific polls in the first place? In this time of dire financial crisis, should our government be supporting organizations like PBS? Let PBS operate on their own budget of funds generated through donations, not tax-payer dollars. What is the total budget at PBS, or at least what amount do they recieve in funds and grants from the government each year? How far would that go towards helping to pay the 70bil bailout that has now been proposed? Poster: J.B. Leslie Comment: Why the whole debate about cookies? Seems like once PBS found the poll results were not what they had hoped, they yank the page and make up a story about cookies. Why didn't they do that when the numbers were 62% against, 38% for Palin? Furthermore, why is PBS wasting tax-payer money running un-scientific polls in the first place? In this time of dire financial crisis, should our government be supporting organizations like PBS? Let PBS operate on their own budget of funds generated through donations, not tax-payer dollars. What is the total budget at PBS, or at least what amount do they recieve in funds and grants from the government each year? How far would that go towards helping to pay the 70bil bailout that has now been proposed? Poster: J.B. Leslie Comment: Why the whole debate about cookies? Seems like once PBS found the poll results were not what they had hoped, they yank the page and make up a story about cookies. Why didn't they do that when the numbers were 62% against, 38% for Palin? Furthermore, why is PBS wasting tax-payer money running un-scientific polls in the first place? In this time of dire financial crisis, should our government be supporting organizations like PBS? Let PBS operate on their own budget of funds generated through donations, not tax-payer dollars. What is the total budget at PBS, or at least what amount do they recieve in funds and grants from the government each year? How far would that go towards helping to pay the 70bil bailout that has now been proposed? Poster: mina Comment: I am glad you are using the Cookie system. This will assure fair input and avoidance of manipulation of results. Cookies can be erased from your viewers system. Polls such as yours keeps the public aware of the views other Americans have on the person running for office. Results should be non-partisan Poster: Jeff B Comment: These kinds of popularity polls are still irresponsible. If you want to do polls, you should do real statistically valid and reliable polls. The kinds of polls you use are purely marketing ploys, which also can be influential to uninformed votes. We are probably approaching the most important election in a century, maybe in the history of the United States. Yet, for the most part, PBS, NPR, and other major media continue to treat the candidates and issues with far too much superficiality. Gone are the days of real investigative reporting (it doesn't sell) and far gone are the days of people with the intelligence to think deeply and critically (what's happened to real journalists?). It's frightening that our great country is on the verge of collapse on many fronts, we are virtually isolated from our one-time allies, and yet far too many of our citizens and journalists continue to act as if everything is normal. The issues that still arise in media reports and among many people is that the media are liberal or the media are conservative. The news media are neither. And, that is not the issue. The issue is real, in-depth, and critical reporting. The liberal-conservative discussion is only an indication of how deeply divided and disconnected our society has become. So, PBS, stop the fluff and get serious, please. Poster: Lily Rodulfo Comment: I hate polls. I am unhappy about this one, but hope that those who find your website will also tune into NOW and the Bill Moyers Journal on Fridays. I especially hope they search and find the excellent interview that Moyers did about the need for law enforcement and intelligence officers to hund for Bin laden, and not the use of military force. That was just one of the many experts that we ought to be hearing from in the Mainstream Press, but we don't. Poster: KDQ Comment: If your intention was to draw attention to your site it certainly did work in getting me to check it out and what I have found is a lot of negative jargon by some really paranoia people. Because Palin represents good clean moral living people can't seem to relate to her. Maybe birds of a feather must flock together since if you agree with Obama and his choice you probably all relate more to some of his close allies and cronies as well,I don't think I need to mention any names here. Need I say more?? Poster: Silence Dogood Comment: That's not a poll, it's a contest -- a contest to see which side has the most time on its hands. Please don't call it a poll. Poster: Tom Comment: Pull the online polls--at least the political ones. In this age of viral emails, they make no sense. One side will just try to out stuff the other. It becomes either a poll about which side can best mobilize their supporters to do online voters and in no way reflects the real opinion of the American electorate. Find some other issues to poll that do not lend themselves to such blatant abuse. By the way, I am an Obama supporter. In my obinion, Palin is in no way qualified to be Vice-President and McCain showed clear lack of judgement for picking her. Poster: Janice Comment: I can only surmise that less than 50% of those who voted yes that Palin is qualified were qualified to vote themselves! That is why this nation has fallen into debt and disaster in the past 8 years, unqualified voters voting for unqualified people. God HELP us! Poster: Bob Mohl Comment: I'm a great admirer of PBS but I'm appalled by the self-selected remember-this-is-not-a-scientific-poll instant online votes promoted by NOW and any number of cable networks. As an educator and parent, I'm asking you to stop adding to the public confusion and misinformation caused by these irresponsible unscientific polls. Even when these polls disallow multiple voting, they are inherently unrepresentative of a cross-section of the public. They only exaggerate the voices of those with the most extreme opinions pro and con, whether those groups represent 5% of the public or 95%. Ironically, the undecided voters who will ultimately decide the outcome of the election, are utterly unrepresented in self-selected polls. Such irresponsible public service is especially damaging to our youngest citizens who are just learning how to interpret data and analyze media reporting. The proliferation of these daily pseudo-polls muddies the waters so that viewers are hard pressed to distinguish legitimate scientific polls from self-selected polls. I'm sure NOW promotes these viewer polls as a way of increasing interest and participation, but since they should only serve as entertainment, why not ask purely entertaining questions - like which candidate has better hair, etc? Or bite the bullet and axe these polls. The harm is much greater than the benefit. Alternatively, simply encourage viewers to post their comments in this forum. Poster: Jenny Terry Comment: to make it a more fair poll, just drop all the votes that were placed BEFORE you instituted the cookie-based mechanism to ensure no one voted more than once... anyone who voted initially will try again until they figure out that they can't vote twice anymore. At least you would be ensured a less skewed snapshot. Poster: Sidney Comment: This poll is just one more example of the kind of junk journalism that serves our democracy so badly. It's not our job to tell you what we think. It's your job to report to us, to the best of your ability, what the candidates think, and what they've done that demonstrates that. What private individuals do or do not think about a candidate has nothing to do with the facts about him or her. (Millions of people were gulled into believing George W. Bush would make a dandy president, twice, and look how that turned out!) So how about getting off your fancy SQL server and doing some reporting. Poster: Diane Comment: All this nonsense about this poll not being scientific or objective is crazy. It's an OPINION poll. My opinion, your opinion, neither right or wrong. I am an independent and was waiting to see who McCain chose for VP as this was a serious concern. Now I know for whom I will vote. It scares me to death that so many people can honestly say she is qualified. Not do you like her or agree with her, but ready to be president. And with McCain as the president, there's a greater probability that she may have to serve. Can someone tell be when liberal became a dirty word? We've already had 8 lousy years of stupidity in the White House, please no more. Not saying that Palin or McCain are stupid- at least not until he made this silly choice. Whoever your candidate is please VOTE. Poster: Charles Comment: In regards to your concerns about people voting more then once, using cookies is not the answer. All people need to do is delete the cookie. Poster: Jude Comment: This is a one computer household with 4 registered voters living here. But only one of us can vote? That's not very fair. I guess if we were rich we could have 4 computers and then we'd all have a vote, right? I expected better than the blatant elitism from NOW. Truthfully, I'm more than a little disappointed. Poster: wally Comment: NOW and PBS have lowered their standards and standing by stooping to this kind of polling. The poll is admittedly not scientific and is virtually meaningless to prove anything about the question it purports to address, so why do it? NOW admits, under pressure, that its purpose is to attract visitors to the site, but laughably suggests that, once there, they will 'explore the deep journalism that is offered throughout NOW's nearly 10,000 web pages and 1,000 video streams.' Right. Having seen that that is not what's happening, and that the 'poll' is merely stoking partisan posturing, NOW should disavow the whole venture as having been ill-conceived and misguided. Poster: Ron Comment: The response on this board proves that people do not have enough sense to vote. They listen to a rumor and think it is true then post their thoughts. If they had a thought process they would have studied the issue and make a reply only on facts. Not what they heard but what they have researched in depth. Is Sarah qualified to be Vice-President. Hell yes. She is qualified to be President. We the people should want a common non political machine in the White House. We continue to put Lawyers and Oil Men in power and wonder what happened. Duh! Poster: Jim H Comment: This Palin Poll is really not up to standards that I'd expect of NPR. Although there is a disclaimer after the vote is cast that it is not a scientific poll, why even conduct such a poll if it the results have no meaning... which they do not because legitimate polling techniques are not used. It thus becomes a National Inquiry Poll that people will use to potentially mislead. In the commentary, the poll's originators even acknowledge the potentially fatal flaw if the politically left or right attempt to mobilize like minded individuals. In short, your cute poll adds clutter to an election where a majority of the people are already having trouble focusing on what is important. It provides *results* that could be meaningless or misleading. In short: What has been accomplished? How am I more informed than before? NPR is not Fox News. NPR has had a reputation for thorough and unbiased reporting with conclusions that are sound. This brainchild of some webmaster (without a scientific polling background) puts a dent in NPR's reputation. Poster: LYNNE Comment: Why is PBS presenting this type of poll anyway? Reporting news, facts and polls, all at the same time is misleading. How about letting Americans actually think for themselves and educate themselves with full factual information and report the election results when it's all said and done. I am disappointed. I expected PBS to take the higher road on this one. But alas! Yet another polarizing waste of funding! Poster: Schipperke Comment: There's a reverse to the problem of multiple voting that hardly anyone ever talks about. In our house two of us use the same computer but different e-mail addresses so sometimes polls count us as one person and won't let us each have our vote. That's a problem because we often disagree! Poster: Steve Levinthal Comment: If you can't do a scientific and secure poll, you shouldn't be doing one at all. Poster: Dean Connors Comment: Polling without an adequate statistical/demographic base is misleading because it so easily lends itself to manipulation and misinterpretation. Voters must always be identified if your survey is to reflect even the tiniest hint of reality. The disclaimer “not a scientific poll” is inadequate because it is readily ignored by the manipulators. To claim the process gives information about the ease with which various organizations can mobilize votes is simply “a lot of hooey” as Harry Truman would say. It is no good to justify standard-bearer, trustworthy PBS using polls because such unprincipled commercial outlets like USA and CNN do it is really ingenuous. And your comment about privacy issues is simply wrongheaded. In the interest of taking a step to clear the already overwhelming mass of smoke and fog and flack, I urge you to immediately eliminate any conclusions from such baseless surveys and cease using them in future. PBS should be a leader, not a follower! Sincerely, Dean Connors Poster: Beverly Comment: I have not seen the Poll, but I do not doubt there are many voters who are poorly aware of the real issues and the facts of Sarah Palin's qualifications. I hope that they do not have a flat learning curve and cannot see the last eight years have been one disaster after another. I hope that NOW is not becoming a partner with Karl Rove whose people are now engineering the MCCain/Palin campaign, a makeover of the Bush/Cheney ones of libelous innuendoes and outright lies. Poster: Al Comment: It would be nice if you added an option to look at the current results Poster: Fredrick Arnstein Comment: To PBS: With all possible respect (and very little is possible in this case), how could you possibly have imagined that a poll such as this could do anything but confuse the issue? Unscientific indeed! This is so far below the standard of common sense and thoughtfulness I expect of PBS that I wonder if in fact some unsavory organization has hijacked your website. PBS has fallen quite a few notches in my estimation. Please THINK before you do something as stupid as this. Poster: Lee Comment: Apparently not all the persons posting here are watchers of PBS since someone is not familiar with the program NOW. I watch the program faithfully and enjoy it very much. Sarah Palin, in my mind, is more qualified to be VP than Obama is qualified to be president. I am not concerned that she is only a heartbeat away from the presidency since John McCain would certainly be able to fulfill the four years within as much certainty as anyone can predict. I do not believe that anyone can predict anything with certainty. I thought this was only an opinion poll. Cannot people answer a simple question. Apparently there are a great many negative people in this world. Poster: Josh Guttman Comment: A less invasive solution is tracking by IP address so only one vote per IP address. Several technology companies provide this capability. Poster: Doug in Chicago Comment: This is like a grade school playground tug-of-war, each side frantically trying to get more kids to pull on their end of the rope. I think this is really beneath pbs and frankly I am surprised and disappointed to see it. At least you admitted the purpose of this is to get more people to access your site (rather than acutally measure public opinion) but this is certainly a case where that is not really occuring. Come on pbs, you're better than this. Poster: Cathie Comment: Oh dear, in trying to ''do right'' PBS has just muddled up the poll even more. If you have decided to belatedly put in a system that only allows one vote per computer, why didn't you report and ''zero out'' the previous results? Now, the poll results (which were slightly weighted in favor of Palin) will move only a very small amount, even if a very large number of people vote for or against her. With the huge numbers you have already said responded to the poll, it will take a very large number to simply move the poll one or two percentage points. That's the problem with percentages. What a mess! And you have just made it worse with this ''adjustment.'' Even a bad poll gets even worse if you change the rules in the middle. At least we knew it was a bad poll before. Now, it's a bad poll pretending to be a good poll. Just pull the whole thing off the web site! Poster: Jen Comment: I am a market researcher. Your poll is not at all scientific. You should randomly sample a pool of representative respondents. Because you allow anyone to complete your poll...you invalidate the results. You have left the poll open to external forces (for example, there are emails going around urging one party to respond to drive the results). You data is useless. Poster: Brian Comment: So, you're justifying this very unscientific poll by saying that CNN is doing it as well? Please don't follow the likes of CNN, MSNBC and FOX. Seriously, you'll become an even bigger joke if you do. Poster: Al Comment: The poll numbers haven't moved, so somethings up. At any rate, I find it disheartening that after the last eight disastrous years that anyone would believe a word spoken by, or trust a single decision made by a man who so closely sided with George W. Bush, and who was part of a S&L scandal himself. Obviously, some people will buy anything. Poster: J Erpelding Comment: The poll may mean absolutely nothing but the sentiments expressed are frightening. I believe that no one is evil here and that you must seriously look at the differences of the candidates and match your opinions to them. If you only saw printed word about what they believe in there would be no white, black, male, female, mother, father, or religious wars to fight. There would be only your vote. I have read, listened and attended as much as possible in this very important election and my vote will be one for the intelligent person who has succeeded in education, state politics, congressional state and fedeal congressional politics and has the right opinion of the world for me. Poster: Ron Comment: The current method permits 1 vote per >computer< , NOT per person. If a senior home has two computers and 50 residents, 48 people are denied a vote. Same goes for public and school libraries. You've skewed the vote toward those who are ikely to have multiple computers - the wealthy. Poster: Michele Comment: Just noticed how you can vote as often as you like. I believe that if you announce any figures from this poll you should make your audience aware that these numbers really don't amount to much. Poster: SillyLibs Comment: I wager if this poll showed a majority claiming Palin was unqualified you libs would be waving it around claiming it was proof Americans rejected the idea of Palin having a place in the White House. The same way you're all for woman's rights until that woman is a Conservative. Then she must be stopped and forced back into the kitchen at all costs! Egads, what must you think of Conservative homosexuals? Shudder to think. Others above have already commented on the ease of clearing cookies from one's machine. What a bunch of Mensa candidates you are. My 6 year old son knew immediately how to game your stupid poll. Keep up the bad work dummies. McCain/Milf '08 Poster: Peter P. Comment: I feel it is imperative that NOW publish a disclaimer or qualifying statement regarding this admittedly 'unscientific' poll. As of yesterday, it was possible to vote as many times as you like. Because of this, I imagine, Palin supporters probably spread the link like wildfire - face it, they're more zealous and vociferous than their liberal counterparts - and warped the results. How else to explain such favorable support on a NOW poll, given the program's more liberally-inclined audience? The same would have been true had the results dramatically represented support for Joe Biden. The Palin phenomenon, to my mind, is simply the result of Americans spending too much time watching TV programs like 'American Idol', where unknowns rise to the heavens on a whim. Governor Palin, potentially one heartbeat away from the presidency of the US at a time of geopolitical volatility, just got her first passport 18 months ago???? Depressing. Poster: kdsav Comment: Last week I saw an e-mail from a Sarah Palin supporter rallying everyone she knew to vote that Palin was qualified to serve. As I disagreed, I went to the NOW site and voted No. Then I discovered that it was possible to vote multiple times from the same e-mail address, which means that the results are utterly meaningless, as they don't correlate with the number of voters, but rather with who has the time to sit at a computer voting over and over again. These results should be thrown out. Poster: James in Texas Comment: I agree with Leanne. Why aren't you running a poll on whether Obama is qualified? Palin has more than 10 years of executive office experience plus she ran a business before that. She is well qualified for VP. I read today that Joe Biden is planning to step out of the race soon so Hillary Clinton can get on Obama's ticket. The reason for bowing out will allegedly be for health reasons (supposed aneurysm?), even though his good health was already confirmed before his nomination as VP running mate. He's not getting hardly any press coverage compared to Palin. Poster: Gail Comment: I don't think much of your poll. Sarah Palin is as qualified for the Presidency as was George Bush when he first ran. Since he met the qualifications, obviously she does. He's been a disaster for this country and I think she would be too. Poster: Michael Griffin Comment: If the poll has been compromised it should be removed. Why can one still go to the poll and see results if the results are tainted? Poster: PaulH Comment: As the NOW spokesperson said, the benefit of the poll is to bring people to the web site. I understand that desire but it smacks of gimmicky sound byte journalism. Think again and come up with a better way to achieve this goal. Poster: Billiebiz Comment: I must assume that your voting page is not working properly, because not sure was at 4%, it's down to 0, she was ahead by several points, we are all voting A LOT and it goes backwards, I guess when your Liberal friends are ahead, no matter how it happens, the poll closes. I'm glad you can't rig the polls in November As far as Palins qualifications, they are cretainly better than Obamas, I get shivers thinking that a person with NO Qualifications might becomem presiden! Poster: Ktar Comment: What did your results tell you about constituent mobilization? Were you getting bombed with responses from particular internet addresses, geograhpic locations or what? Poster: Alandria Comment: The real issue isn't the poll. It is just a way to get us to discuss and deliberate the fact that there are people out there ignorant enough to consider someone like Sarah Palin for Vice Presidency. Why are we comparing her to Obama, unless everyone really does feel that McCain would not survive a presidency? Are Republicans so die-hard for their party that they would vote anyone in just to have a Republican presidency? Can't they see where the last two terms have gotten us? No one can HONESTLY say that Obama and Palin are playing on the same levels. Not without looking at their educational backgrounds and past political involvement. How can Sarah Palin be a step forward for women? If she were elected, she would be the biggest disaster ever known to American government---and it would be blamed on having a woman! Do you really think she would sit inconspicuously by, like Dick Cheney? No, because you know McCain would be too old or sick to be president for a full term. And as for the idea that Palin is someone for young women to look up to....she went to 5 schools to get a BA in journalism (not anything remotely close to politics), I have pictures left and right of her teenagers drinking alcohol(illegal)....So, let me get this right. A woman that lets teenagers drink, barely has a degree that isn't related to anything she's doing, and who can't even manage our state with the smallest population without driving it into debt and causing conspiracy with her personal attacks on people, is an equivalent or better candidate to a man that has a Harvard degree in political science with a specialization in international relations and has had a REAL political career in Washington? If you think she is, then Bush screwed you so bad, you don't know which way is up! Poster: Bonnie Meltzer Comment: I couldn't believe the results so I did a little test. I got to vote twice and I am sure that I could have voted more. And your piece on Palin certainly didn't tell the whole story. It sounded like it came out of the Republican parry play book. Shame on you. Bonnie Poster: Leisa Comment: Why do you not have the same poll for Obama? He is running to be the President of the United States of America on a thin resume. I am appalled that the blatant media bias for Senator Obama helped push out the most qualified person to run for president in my lifetime. We have so many issues facing our country right now, and the media is pushing this unqualified, inexperienced, divider, Obama, on us. The one sided reporting by the media is blatantly obvious. Why is this happening? Poster: Robin Comment: Until you figure out how to make the information gleaned from the polls meaningful -- rather than a gauge of the efficacy of individuals/groups mobilizing mass participation -- why bother with them at all? Poster: Sammy Comment: I knew something had to be off when I saw the results of that poll. I hope future polls will not be subject to repeated clicking. Poster: Kim Comment: My co-workers and I have been able to vote several times in this poll and the results have not changed at all, which leads me to believe that there is a huge problem with it. I can't imagine that there are none of even the most die-hard Republican/anti-Obama/or racists who just can't stand the idea of someone who doesn't look like them running the country who think that THIS woman would be suitable to run our country (and let's face it - considering the age of her running mate and presidential candidate, that is more of a distinct possibility than it is just a passing thought). Poster: Frankie Comment: Your Palin poll is blatantly inaccurate and fatally flawed in that any individual can vote an infinite number of times. What a shame. It would be interesting to get a truer reading of American opinion on Palin's readiness to lead - one vote per person. Sigh. Poster: Jonathan Tominar Comment: I do not trust any poll that HIDES it's numbers, the total number of votes, how much was received to each selection. The Calculus should be shown clearly, otherwise the statistic should be held in suspect. It seems that the article defending the poll states that the poll has been running from September 5th till the 23rd but only implemented the measure to keep the vote honest was instituted on the 22nd. That is just bad preparation and logistics. I had more faith in PBS... Poster: Bill Comment: What planet is Michele Bauchmann living on? How could supporting the VP pick of a candidate that voted against the equal pay act for equal work be a step forward for women? And just for the record both senator's Obama and Biden voted in favor of this act!!!!! Poster: Eve Comment: Thank you for letting us know about the poll and the problems surrounding it. When I started getting forwarded emails requesting my vote, I checked your site, found your response and was able to forward it back to all those folks. Thank you. Poster: XCanuck Comment: Please apologize for running this poll, junk the results, and promise never to poll again. If you MUST, call it a survey, not a poll,and use pragmatic questions, such as: (a) Will Sarah Palin's name on the ballot affect your vote, and if so, how? (b)same question, for Joe Biden. Poster: Virginia Comment: Shame on me. I got sent an email with a direct link to the poll accompanied by some verbiage about how 'left leaning' PBS is and that therefor, I should go to the link & vote for Sarah Palin. I was so annoyed about the comments regarding PBS that accompanied the email, that I clicked the link & voted. Voted 'NO'. Only today am I doing what I normally would have done and looking for the commentary that accompanied the poll. Shame on me for reacting with passion when one of my favorite organizations is put down. And NOW, as well as other PBS programs, usually gives me food for thought- whether I agree or not. In the case of this poll, I think the takeaway is that some people have some really strong feelings about Ms. Palin. Certainly had I answered the question fairly, I would have to say she is at least as qualified as some others who have been VP. Feeling comfortable with her as second in command is really quite another question. Poster: Dixie Comment: Sarah Palin isn't running for President. I seriously doubt that John McCain will die in office. Age doesn't matter. Obama could die in office ie Kennedy was young, and that would leave Biden who certainly isn't qualified and got what? Less than 1% of the votes in his run. Why not a poll to see if Obama is qualified, which he certainly isn't. Sarah has a surplus state with no sales tax. Heck yes she's qualified just as much as Clinton was. She will learn as she goes, where you want to stick an out for himself and damn the country who plans to tax the rich to pay for his stupid plans with zilch for achievements in office. I'll go with the experience anytime. The media bias is outragious in this election.. McCain 08 Poster: richard kessler Comment: It is obvious that you made a mistake that clearly benefited the Republicans. Even if that result was unplanned, it was damaging to the public you should be serving and to your reputation. A little more forethought next time, please. Poster: Suzi Kapadia Comment: Is Sarah Palin is qualified to be Vice President? This is a SEXIST question. We never ask how qualified the men are. Probably we should. Perhaps we should insist they have a relevent Ph.D. (that would knock most of them out of their jobs...). The very poor quality of our politicians is a real issue but the focus should NOT be just on Plain because she happens to be a young woman. CULTURAL MISOGYNY needs to be challenged. It is not party political. Poster: Sharon Comment: I agree with all the previous comments concerning what a stupid idea the Palin poll is(and the others on your site)---Get off Palin--she is OLD news! In case you haven't noticed, we are in the middle of a major economic crisis, and I believe the Jim Crammers (CNBC and a Dem) and the Steven Pearlsteins (Washington Post)who say if a bailout package is not approved soon, we will go into a much larger economic downspiral. They have (among many others) been warning of serious problems for quite awhile, and they were correct. The Congress needs to get what concessions and changes in oversight they can get in the next few days & then OK it. I don't like the idea that people who are connected with these companies may still reap huge $ rewards, or that there are still unknowns, but I like the idea of a depression even less. Poster: Di Comment: Sarah Palin is the subject, how great to have a way to express the shock of the possibility of someone with her background and attitude a heartbeat away from the presidency. How great to have a free forum and let the chips fall where they may. Compare the quality of comments you receive. Poster: Linda Smith Comment: PBS has also been taken over by the oligarchs and thus moves to dumbing down, pandering, and tom foolery (because the rich and powerful in the village have no respect for the intelligence of the american people but play them for fools). this is not news. this is not a poll. it is not helpful to intelligent discussion or an informed electorate. Utter foolishness, all round. Poster: Claudette Comment: It is crystal clear that Paulin is no more qualified to run for such a critical office as the Vice President of our nation as MCClain is for chosing her as his running mate . This is what I see as a slap in the face to the American people. So why is it necessary to conduct such a poll as this. Perhaps PBS should spend its time taking polls that focus on the state that our nation and its people are in because of the poor leadership and lack of respect by another person that was not qualified to run for the top and most critical office in our country - a prime example of what happens when greed and power overrides leadership and experience. Is this poll really necessary? - I should think not. Does it hold hidden agendas? - Seems very possible. Poster: Barry Silverman, MSW Comment: Why don't you have a poll on whether George W. Bush qualified to be president? Poster: Dean Comment: The blatant favoritism toward Barack Obama by the media is becoming very obvious this election cycle. Why do you single out Palin's experience and not ask if Obama is qualified to be President? That is the real question, isn't it? I think the American people are finally waking up to the liberal media bias...thankfully. Poster: Deborah Dobski Comment: This kind of poll is useless. NOW should be ashamed to conduct a poll which is so inaccurate. What is the purpose? Poster: Gracie Comment: Just read that PBS figured out their S.Palin Poll was hijacked by those brilliant Republican strategists & their quick computer fingers. Thank God! My faith in good-old-fashioned 'intelligence' (not to be confused with 'intellectualism,' God forbid!) is now (somewhat) revived. When I saw that a (slight) majority of your voters thought S.Palin was actually ‘qualified’ to run this country I thought to myself: I must have fallen through the rabbit hole - where everything is upside-down. Having said that, I agree with other comments that S.Palin is a total distraction. Don't blame her: she cannot help being who she is (whatever you happen to think that is). Blame the person who is responsible for any of us having even to even spend one minute discussing S.Palin & her messy, little, stupid life story in the context of the Presidency of the United States of America -- John McCain! In choosing S.Palin as VP, John McCain proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that his brand of leadership is winning first -- at all cost -- country distant second. Poster: Kathy Comment: And if CNN.com and USA Today jumped off a cliff, would NOW jump off a cliff too? The poll is an embarrassment, a ploy to attract traffic--people who wouldn't otherwise be here. There has been an uneasy tension at most public television and radio stations ever since they were left to mostly fend for themselves: we provide what can't been seen commercially, but how do we get the funds? By attracting more eyeballs. How do we get more eyeballs? By providing instant, shallow, brainless dreck like internet polls. The problem isn't only that the poll is emminently hackable (my computer automatically erases all internet cookies every time I turn it off), but that it is there at all. For God's sake! Remember who you are, you're NOW! The erstwhile home of Bill Moyers! Do your website developers and overseers even watch the program? Poster: John Comment: The Palin poll link is still being forward via email messages. Is that forwarded link still legit after September 22? Ae results still being accuraely tabulated by NOW? Poster: Tom Krajewski Comment: PBS asks if Sarah Palin is qualified to be Vice President. The real question is she ready to be President. If this team is elected the odds are she will be President within 18 months. Cancer: Like millions of Americans I thought that Senator McCain's cancer was no big deal – little surface scars that can easily be removed. No, a medical doctor told me this morning, at least one of his spots is one that goes deep and can easily travel to vital organs. Genes: When the question of age comes up, Senator McCain quickly tells us of his 95+ year old mother, who is still living. Did he select his longevity genes from his mother or did he get them from his father who died at age 70. For these and other uglier reasons, one must realistically consider the very real possibility of President Palin. It is irresponsible for PBS to not ask the real question. The unscientific, easily manipulated poll on a stupid question Poster: Char Comment: Since I refuse to watch PBS I hadn't seen or heard Michele Bachman before. She's awesome and more fair and balanced in her thinking than that other babe. I think it's hilarious that the PBS libbies posting on here are afraid that us real women are going to take over the poll in favor of another real woman, Sarah Palin. The poll indicated one vote per person so that's all I did, I did not go to various computers to vote in desperation as one of the posters bragged about. Hmmm? The title Should Obama be afraid is very telling. Poster: polar bear Comment: how about no polls, no cookies? thanks for all your work. Poster: Soulotter Comment: Are you kidding me? PBS? NOW? What kind of joke is this? Somehow I thought both of these organizations had more integrity than to run a poll so easily manipulated by anyone. NEWSFLASH....The real poll will come in November. Poster: Susan Kirkman Comment: You should ask the same question about both candidates for vice presient...why pull out the woman candidate?? I feel she's more qualified on either ticket, for president or vp...I'd like to see her running for president and mccain as vp... Poster: Cindy Comment: I hardly think that 'well, CNN does it' is a defense of your journalistic standards. Poster: Ward MArtin Comment: Thge results of this poll should be disavowed by PBS. It has no scientific basis and has been hijacked by interested parties on both sides of the political aisle. Bury it. Poster: John D. Byde Comment: I admit to not reading your whole article. but that is because it is of the same liberal philosophy as all the rest of the crap I see coming from the left. Look none are perfect. Some try harder and some even try too be honest. Macain has made a few changes due to his conservative backing. He is trying to do what his voters ask. As for me and my house I will vote for the Macain ticket. John Poster: Beth Comment: Why would you take an opinion poll on an issue that is an objective fact? Would you take a poll on whether Earth is flat? Ms. Palin is clearly the least qualified person to be nominated to national office since Dan Quayle. Given Mr. McCain's age and health, it is a serious lapse of judgment to select her as running mate. Why don't you more productively spend your time making sure she has the kind of vetting Mr. McCain failed to provide? The American people deserve no less. Poster: Mark Reynolds Comment: Please don't pander so. Sarah Palin is a distraction. She's has no qualifications other than she's prettier (and younger) that John McCain. Why are you wasting everyone's time, PBS? I thought you might be the Public Broadcasting System but you want to play popularity contests. Poster: Pam Bergren Comment: When I first started dabbling in Internet blogging, slanting polls like this, was called Freeping them, because Republicans on the Free Republic site used to post the polls and encourage everyone to access it and vote and vote and vote. So it is not unusual to see a poll Freeped! You can watch it on CNN polls or AOL, etc. No one really takes them seriously. Poster: me Comment: i voted on my work computer, my significant other's computer, my own computer, both our laptops, and from various remote sites in Italy (where Palin's never been, which is why it's so lovely). kisses all you cariboucides, bruce Poster: Harriet Heithaus Comment: I'm not the first to point out that most people don't distinguish between a poll and a survey, and when polls are manipulated, the results are trumpeted as Truth by the winners. I just received an e-mail tonight suggesting I vote, although not telling me how. My friend obviously knew my sympathies, however. Thanks to your column, I understand the aim of these polls, but cringe at the way they may be used outside your own program. Poster: D Nivriks Comment: You are one of most liberal networks. You are Obama mainstream grabage. Have you done a poll to see if Biden with all of his stupid comments along the way. Be fair towards both sides of the political isle. Poster: dick walsh Comment: Tell people that you are going to put a cookie on their disk. Give them the option to say no ending their chance to vote in the poll. If they say yes, tell them that the cookie will stay on their hard drive until the poll closes at which time it will automatically delete itself. Give them another opportunity to say no and so end their ability to vote. What's so difficult about that? If it's deemed insecure to have a cookie automatically delete itself get some trusted https website to handle it for the user on demand. At the same time you could make the cookie easily identifiable to a user search, a procedure that most cookie creators will not do. Poster: Julie McNamara, Ph.D. Comment: Please get someone better than Michele Bachmann in your forum; the woman is not informed enough to be on PBS. Her statement regarding Barack Obama's experience (if you look at Barack Obama's record and qualifications and compare them to Sarah Palin's, I don't think there's any question that she is more qualified to be our top executive than he is—and he's the one running for President) is absolutely ridiculous. Obama earned the highest degree possible from the nation's most prestigious law school, then was on the law faculty teaching law for many years at University of Chicago while Palin barely managed to finish a bachelor's degree and has never to my knowledge even studied Constitutional law in a post-secondary setting. Obama dealt with a lot of budget and financial legislation as an Illinois state senator, and has experience in foreign policy, veteran's affairs, and national issues in the areas of health, education, labor, and national security by virtue of his committee assignments as a US senator. This concept that an elected executive branch job - no matter how small - trumps U.S. Senate experience is just ludicrous, and I grow tired of hearing it parroted. LBJ, John Kennedy, and many others did just fine. It took only 110,000 people to elect Sarah Palin to the Alaska governor position, compared with over 3.5 million in Illinois who elected Obama to the U.S. Senate. Poster: Margarita Comment: Since the online polls are acknowledged to be unscientific just-for-fun garbage, who cares if people vote and vote and vote? It's actually more misleading to limit voting because it falsely implies that the result would be any more significant, which it plainly wouldn't. Personally, I have little respect for a journalistic enterprise that presents these in any but an overtly playful way. It's informational snake oil. Maybe you could try horoscopes if you're just looking to increase traffic. Poster: MICHAEL H SMITH Comment: The Sarah Palin qualification poll is good, but only meaningful if you do the same poll for Joe Biden. He is certainly qualified, but if the poll comes up closely split between yes and no, then the responders are not evaluating, they are voting. Poster: truman Comment: And will PBS ask the same questions about senator Biden who thinks FDR was on television Poster: Kent Lauridsen Comment: The premise of encouraging people to participate in a 'poll' where the participants are self-selecting, rather than randomly chosen, was flawed to begin with and could not have provided anything other than misleading information. The ability of some users to 'vote' more than once just encouraged further degradation of an inherently poor idea. Because polls may have the effect of actually influencing the outcome elections, it seems to me that much greater care should be taken in constructing them and in explaining the results. Poster: salal hall Comment: this irresponsible poll should not be used for any purpose other than making sure you dont make such a basic mistake again. i dont understand how it is possible that you didnt make it so that one vote- one computer was the starting rule. Poster: JWS Comment: I am a regular contributor to PBS and view polls like this as precisely the sort of nonsense that I associate with media further down on the journalistic food chain (e.g., USA Today, my local TV station, or -- shudder -- FOX News). Please put your efforts into doing serious journalism rather than aping the worst habits of the commercial networks. Poster: Mark Comment: Being a governor and mayor gives Sarah Palin the needed executive experience. Don't forget that Bill Clinton was a governor from a very small poor state. So, to say she doesn't have the experience, but Bill Clinton did is very hypocritical. Since you're using my tax dollars, PBS, to put Bill Moyers on the air, I think you should do a poll asking if Barack Obama has enough experience to be president. But, you should qualify the poll that running for president doesn't count as experience to be president. Also, being married to a president doesn't qualify one either. As Dick Morris said, Clinton's pastry chef was also in the White House for 8 years, but you wouldn't want him running the country. Poster: Bob Witeck Comment: Concerning the Palin Poll -- hey, guess what you're PBS, not FOX or Bravo or CNN or another cable channel. Skip fake opinion polls altogether because they represent a hoax for your visitors, many who imagine they are shaping and influencing public policy -- instead of serving as unwitting shills to drive web visitors. Instead of asking us whether we think Sarah Palin is qualified to serve as Vice President (or President for that matter) -- and the answer is clearly no -- you should support your journalists to ask her questions on the air, on the record, so that she can present her qualifications. Then we all can judge. It is a scandal that the American news media today are not rising up to break down the Palin bubble and to penetrate that barrier to ask real questions of real office-seekers in real time. You are culpable and ineffectual if you do not seriously engage during this critical election cycle. If you do not get it, I am truly embarrassed for you. Bob Witeck Arlington, Virginia Poster: J Murray Comment: Just remove the thing so people stop sending me ridiculous emails announcing the end of the world if I don't vote multiple times Poster: steve Comment: get rid of these non-scientific polls once and for all. Poster: DrewPa Comment: I've receivd several emails stating that Karl Rove is paying republicans to hijack the poll in Sara Palin's favor. Unless your system has a block on multiple votes from one address, I'd suggest dropping the whole thing. In any case, since the Republicans feel that Sara Palin is not qualified to have a free and open press conference, and that she is not capable of handling interviews from a wide range of media, it is clear that she is in no way capable of handling the responsibilities and demands of President (which is the main reason we have a Vice President). Not qualified to talk to a Free Press! Not qualified for Vice President! Poster: P. McConnell Comment: Sara Palin's campaign for Vice President is more frightening than a McBush presidency!!! IF you look up the word Hubris, you will see a photo of George Bush and Sara Palin. both of them have an arrogance resulting from excessive pride in their own overstated self-worth!!!! Poster: pam lancaster Comment: McCain's choice of Sarah Palin is the most blatant political ploy I've witnessed in 62 years . She would put the country at risk with her complete lack of intelligence and in experience . Thesse are frightening times !! Poster: Elizabeth Orr Comment: A great number of people I know have been forwarding around the The Sarah Palin poll, my circle and extended circle of friends who are receiving this poll and participating are all noticing that the NO statistic (Palin is not fit to be VP) remains at 48% and has remained there for a number of days. It seems that no matter how many people are voting it just will remain at 48? Is there something wrong with this poll? Poster: J24Y97 Comment: Um, just clear the cookie cache then revote. It takes a button people! Don't let the religious crazies win, or they'll bring on Armageddon to fulfill their personal beliefs and kill us all. Poster: Nan Comment: Hello - I didn't intend to vote more than once but the only way I could see the results seemed to be to do so. I bet others were in the same position so perhaps displaying the results would eliminate multiple votes. Thanks for your efforts. Poster: E.J. Spier Comment: Re: Sarah Palin The poll may be over now but I absolutely do not think Sarah Palin is qualified to be Vice President and especially not President!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Poster: Keith Patrick Comment: Cookies are not an ideal way to restrict multiple votes, given that the cookies reside on the users' computers. If I want to vote multiple times on such a system, I just delete the cookie (in fact, the next generation of browser - and some current-gen - do this automatically via privacy mode (aka 'porn-mode'). You have to store user info on a central server to prevent this (a common way is to store the user request's IP addressed hashed for privacy), but even that is not perfect, as an IP IDs a machine, not a person (although you *can* grab a user ID from the browser in some circumstances) Poster: Michael Markman Comment: Your poll is a promotional tool to lure visitors. Have at it. This visitor will boycott your site until after election day. Poster: Greg Shaw Comment: I was very disappointed in PBS for running this poll. It is an American Idol kind of poll for an American Idol candidate. No one knows anything about her except the imagery and glitz, which is what we are voting on. And just like American Idol voting, her big fans will vote multiple times or organize others to vote for her. For what? What in the world does this poll do? Nothing. She's a joke. A disgrace. And this poll simply continues the appearance that she is a legitimate candidate. Poster: Jerry Savage (ResearchSight) Comment: As a professional researcher, I am very disappointed in this Palin Poll incident. You could get a much better survey tool for very little money and the “poll” (I certainly would not call it that) has the potential to mislead some impressionable voters. If you need help learning how to conduct better surveys online, then ask. I—and most members of the scientific community who write checks to your organization—would certainly prefer to donate time or work on the cheap than to receive emails from students concerned that someone may actually believe your Palin numbers. Let's hope they don't! Open source survey sampling is a ridiculously poor sampling method and the lack of scientific controls (or even an effort to apply scientific controls) is atrocious. When I taught research methods to undergrads, we'd flunk you for reporting a finding with such a poorly constructed method. You should work with professionals to conduct future polls and tell people the truth: the Palin poll numbers are simply misleading trash. Sincerely, Jerry Savage ResearchSight, Founder Poster: Tom Comment: Thanks, but no thanks. If I wanted to create a bogus poll I'd do it myself. Poster: Ann Comment: Thanks for the explanation. I had received the link to the poll in a letter that warned the conservatives were flooding the website. I guess we were all flooding the website, liberals as well as conservatives! It looks as if the real poll will be November's election. Bless us all.... Poster: Pati Martinez Visser Comment: Why don't you have a poll on whether Barack Obama is qualified to be president? Poster: anita simons Comment: I find polls to be extremely biased and not reliable; however, shame on PBS and NOW. This poll is an absolute sham with no controls on how many times someone may vote. The entire issue of Palin and her gender has become a diversion to the real topics of this election and NOW has done a disservice to its viewers in pandering to the media frenzy. I think you can cover more pressing topics than a poll on whether Gov Palin is qualified or not. Poster: Bev Comment: This is not a fair indication of anything! Any one of us could spend hours voting and revoting on this poll. What does that prove. It clearly is not going to be an accurate result of anything! You could do better NOW. Poster: Leanne Comment: Why aren't you running a poll about Barack Obama and whether or not he has the qualifications for President ? After all, he is just a one term senator, hardly what you would call a depth of experience and, of course, he hasn't even served a full term yet. |
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