Writes Ben Schroeder: “Fox News insists that its ‘focus groups’ are an accurate reflection of Republican voters, yet while Paul has gotten 8-10% of the vote in the two primaries, and polls anywhere from 5-15% in multiple states, he has never gotten a single focus group member to speak on his behalf. If there are 30 people in these groups, then we should expect to see a couple of Paul supporters. Just do the math.
“So, are these representative samples or not, Frank? Of course, we know they’re not and they never were. The fact that so many people suddenly jumped on the Thompson bandwagon all at once is indicative of groupthink, a bi-product of what is called the Delphi technique. People use this method at conferences and seminars to garner support for an idea. One or two people are in league with the moderator and they focus the discussion to a certain idea (in this case an individual), and the rest follow suit to be a part of the consensus. It plays on people’s desire to be part of group solutions. These are why Paul supporters, naturally independent-minded and contrarian, can screw the whole thing up.
“I have some experience dealing with Delphi technique disciples, and it is very recognizable when its going on. In this case, it’s so blatantly obvious it’s a shock Luntz doesn’t throw a couple Paul supporters in there to cover his tracks.”
9:54 pm on January 10, 2008 Email Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
