Wednesday, November 04, 2015



I guess it pays to show up and vote rather than rely on the polls to determine the outcome of elections.

Case in point: The solid rejection of Issue 3, which would have allowed 10 monopolies to grow and distribute marijuana in Ohio.

Kent State University/WKYC poll said 56% favor, 34% oppose.

Baldwin Wallace poll: 43% in favor, 38% opposed.

Bowling Green State Zogby poll: 44% in favor, 43% opposed.

The only poll that sent up a serious warning flag that the pot amendment might be in trouble, the University of Akron Buckeye poll run by former BJ editor John Green, used the word “monopoly” in the question, which the other polls avoided. 53% agreed that it was a "bad idea because it will grant ten wealthy landowners a monopoly on growing marijuana in Ohio."

Despite that concern, the Akron poll came up with this result: 46% in favor, 46% opposed.

Even that wasn’t close to the actual voting results:  64% opposed, 36% in favor.

By the way, Thomas E. Dewey, despite the Chicago Tribune headline, did NOT defeat Harry S. Truman for U.S. President in 1948.

The pollsters got that one wrong, too. As radio comedian Fred Allen quipped, Truman was the "first president to lose in a Gallup and win in a walk." Truman Missouri waltzed his way back into the White House and the Chicago Tribune is still trying to wipe the egg off its face.

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