Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 1.13
Orson Welles's radio adaption of
War of the Worlds
on the evening of
October 30, 1938, convinced many Americans that Martians were attacking New Jersey.
(© Bettmann/Corbis)
At about 7:50 P.M. on the evening of Tuesday, November 7, 2000, before the polls
had even closed in the Florida panhandle, the major networks began announcing that
Al Gore would be the winner in Florida. Based on the expected result of the Florida
election, the networks went on to predict—while people were still voting in the Western
states—that Al Gore would be the next president of the United States.
You might be wondering how it is possible to predict the outcome of an election
before everyone has voted. In a practice known as exit polling, a company called Voter
News Service questions people leaving polling places. It combines the information it
collects with early returns to predict the outcome of elections. Since 1988 the television
networks have relied upon the Voter News Service to provide them with exit polling
results.
