CNN’s Jack Cafferty asks: “If Ron Paul can raise more than $6 million in one day, how come he’s not higher in the polls?” The letters to the Cafferty File on this one are some of the most insightful I’ve ever seen. Here are a couple of them:

Rafik Mikhael:

Polls are a scientific tool to reach an unscientific result. The deception begins when you assume (mistakenly) that the expectation of people to actually take the trouble and go on a winter day to vote for their favorite candidate is equal among all campaigns. With this assumption it make sense that surveying people’s opinions would give an indicator as to the expected result of the actual vote. But the fact is, supporters are not equally enthusiastic about their candidates. Many supporters poll for a candidate cause he is the one they see everyday on TV, not because they are truly enthusiast about his message. Come voting day, you probably wouldn’t take the trouble to wake up and head for the booth unless you really believe in someone’s message, no matter how many times you see him on TV. You want a more scientific way to count the votes a priori? find a way to measure not only the size of the support, but the depth of it!!

Terry:

Depends on which poll you are talking about. Do you mean the so-called scientific polls where the GOP party refuses to even name Ron Paul as a choice of candidates on the poll? Do you mean the poll that doesn’t name Ron Paul as a choice but his numbers and his supporter’s are forced to either choose “other” or “undecided” for lack of other options? Or do you mean a poll that only polls Republicans that voted Republican in 2004 which is a very poor reflection of his support? As a person who is very familiar with who is supporting Ron Paul, the real numbers are reflected in a cross section of Americans who are changing parties just for him. Independents, Democrats, Libertarians, Republicans, people who have never even voted before, and everything else you can imagine. A poll of card carrying Republicans, rarely even given the choice of Ron Paul as an option, is a pathetic reflection of his support. The polls are not a reflection of someone’s popularity, it’s just another tool of the NeoCons to manipulate people to tell them who to vote for.

Don’t believe me? Feel free to request the recording one Ron Paul supporter made while being polled a few weeks back. No Ron Paul option and when the person choose “other”, the recording said thanks and told them they would be removed from the calling list. In other words they aren’t interested in polling people who choose Ron Paul. And there are many reports from Ron Paul supporter’s of similar shenanigans.

See more of the 212 letters to Cafferty explaining why the polls are biased.