Media

Fox News exec warns staff against relying on online polls

by Joe Concha - 09/28/16 11:29 AM ET

A top Fox News executive is warning the network’s politics unit that online polls “do not meet our editorial standards,” according to a new report Wednesday.

Dana Blanton, the network’s vice president of public opinion research, wrote in a memo obtained by Business Insider that “online ‘polls’ like the one on Drudge, Time, etc. where people can opt-in or self-select … are really just for fun.”

The memo comes as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been touting online polls such as those from Drudge Report and Time magazine that show him winning Monday night’s presidential debate against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by considerable margins.

Such a great honor. Final debate polls are in – and the MOVEMENT wins!#AmericaFirst #MAGA #ImWithYou https://t.co/3KWOl2ibaW pic.twitter.com/sfCEE3I5pF

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2016

{mosads}At least three Fox News hosts cited the online polls in post-debate coverage. Other networks and major publications have cited online polls as well, including CNN.

However, scientific polls have shown Clinton as the winner of the debate. A Morning Consult poll released Wednesday found 49 percent thought she won, while 26 percent thought Trump won.

A solid majority of mainstream pundits, and even some Republicans, also felt Clinton won the evening.

“As most of the publications themselves clearly state, the sample obviously can’t be representative of the electorate because they only reflect the views of those Internet users who have chosen to participate,” Blanton wrote.

“We know some campaigns/groups of supporters encourage people to vote in online polls and flood the results,” he added. “These quickie click items do not meet our editorial standards.”

Blanton noted that “news networks and other organizations go to great effort and rigor to conduct scientific polls — for good reason.”

Neil Newhouse, who served as GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s pollster in 2012, similarly assessed online polls in a Tuesday interview.

“Whenever news outlets ask readers their opinions online, and open it to everyone who visits their webpage, it’s not a valid poll, no matter how many people participate,” Newhouse told The New York Post, which, like Fox News, is owned by News Corporation, a division of 21st Century Fox.

“That’s akin to a Major League Baseball team putting the All-Star ballot on their website. It’s not a random sampling of respondents.”

Since participating in the first Republican primary debate back in August 2015, Trump has repeatedly cited online polls as evidence that he was beating his opponents.

Tags Donald Trump Hillary Clinton