Exit polls tend to cast suspicion on certain election "wins," assuming most voters are truthful about the vote they just cast.
They are one more barrier to stolen elections. Remember, as of a couple of days ago, Republicans were writing off Romney and focusing on down ticket races, so how solid these states allegedly are for either Obama or Romney is beside the point.
U.S. News
Election Day exit polls axed in 19 states
Published: Oct. 5, 2012 at 4:00 AM
NEW YORK, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. TV networks won't conduct Election Day exit polls in 19 states deemed non-competitive this year, the National Election Pool said, citing rising costs.
The omitted states are Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming, as well as the District of Columbia.
Some precincts from these states will be included in a separate national exit survey -- the number of precincts sampled nationally has been increased to 350 from 300 in 2008 -- but information about voter age, race, sex, religious preference and other pertinent data in those 19 states will not be available, Merkle said.
The budget for the exit polls is about the same as four years ago, he said, but would have had to be significantly increased to provide the same coverage as in 2008.
That last clause is an inexplicable statement, isn't it? They have the necessary equipment and Lord knows, wages have not risen in real dollars since the late 1970s. So, is the issue gasoline, electricity, or what? What could be so expensive and important?
But the excluded states include a "toss-up" U.S. Senate race in North Dakota between Democratic former state Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp and Republican Rep. Rick Berg.
Two other omitted states include contests in the "leaning" Democratic category in the U.S. Senate race in Hawaii and the governor's race in West Virginia.
With Texas excluded, the nation's second-most populous state will not have a statewide exit poll. Nor will No. 9 Georgia.
This is the first time the pool has cut the number of states it surveys in a presidential election year.
Read more:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/10/05/Election-Day-exit-polls-axed-in-19-states/UPI-69721349424000/#ixzz28Q2i9d8VI do not like this one little bit, but what can you do? The people own their airwaves only in theory--and it's a pretty transparent theory at that.