The Tolbert Report

State Rep. Dan Greenberg and candidate for the State Senate took some time today on The Arkansas Project to address a serious issue facing us all – Internet Polls. I can see how this would rank high on his list of issuing facing everyday Arkansans particularly in today’s economy. I mean have we not all at one point in time said to ourselves if only these internet polls would go away then my life would be so much better.

Greenberg addresses a little poll clicky clicky I did here on the Tolbert Report a while back, indirectly at first and then at length in the comments section. Apparently, he sent out several emails encouraging people to vote on my poll saying “Some people think doing well in these Internet polls is helpful to political campaigns” and that the winner will argue that this is “the most important Internet poll in history.”

He goes on to defend these emails saying “I was concerned that people would take the poll seriously, and as a consequence I took it seriously. In retrospect, even though I was narrowly ahead when the poll closed (by five votes out of a couple thousand), electronic campaigning to win that Internet poll was a huge waste of time. Furthermore, it was a meaningless result, since Jason Tolbert (the engineer of the first poll) – troubled by the conduct of some repeat voters – ended the poll prematurely and made no further reference to it on his website. I ultimately learned that winning an Internet poll is not worth the cost of spending hours of my time hassling friends, acquaintances, and volunteers to vote for me. Others may disagree.”

Obviously, these polls are unscientific devices but I find them fun to generate discussion about the different races. I did not close the poll because I was troubled by it but because both candidates asked me to. I asked them if it was alright if I just ended the poll and threw out the results. They both agreed this do this and not discuss it.  I have never really considered internet polls harmful to society or the political process in general. If they really made a difference, then Ron Paul would be President right now because I think he won just about every internet poll he was in.

So I will leave it up to you, my readers. Do you like internet polls or should I no longer use them on my blog? I will respect your decision unless I decide to disregard the poll as unscientific.

Please vote in the poll on the right.

UPDATE - The people have spoken.  With 106 votes, an overwhelming 82% of you want more internet polls.  Look soon for a poll on what I should poll.

Tags: 2010 Candidates