By Mark Memmott, USA TODAY
The exit polls of voters on Election Day so overstated Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites)'s support that they rank as the most inaccurate in a presidential election since at least 1988, the firms who did the work conceded Wednesday.
One reason the surveys were skewed, they say, was because Kerry's supporters were more willing to participate than Bush's. Also, they say the interviewers they hired to quiz voters were on average too young, too inexperienced and needed more training.
The exit polls, which are supposed to help the major TV networks shape their coverage on election night, were sharply criticized after the election. Leaks of preliminary data from the polls showed up on the Internet in the early afternoon of Election Day, fueling speculation that Kerry was about to defeat President Bush (news - web sites). After the election, some political scientists, pollsters and journalists questioned the polls' value.
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