Mark Blumenthal at Pollster.com has some good advice about exit polls. Why hasn’t any information about preliminary results been floating around in emails and on blogs like in years past? Following a lot of criticism about early leaks in 2004, the network consortium that conducts the exits polls has its “representatives” literally sequestered without phones, blackberry’s or computers. The consortium is supposed to brief its sponsors (i.e. the media) after 5:00 pm EST, but I haven’t spotted any leaks yet. But as Blumenthal and others note, exit polls tend to slightly favor Democrats. No one really knows why. But Democrats just seem more willing to answer exit pollster questions and as a result, the people in the survey tilt Democratic. This seems to occur every year and there is no reason to expect 2008 will deviate. So happy searching for the leaks, but read Blumenthal’s post while you’re waiting.
