The Gun Counter

Compounding the Spiral of Silence phenomenon are the ever-popular “poll of polls” that have emerged this presidential cycle more than in elections past. Indeed, every day journalists and columnists cite in their stories these aggregate poll ratings. Yet most serious public opinion scholars believe that there are real methodological problems with averaging multiple poll results. As President Ronald Reagan’s pollster and chief political strategist, Dick Wirthlin, explains, “Averaging polls is kind of like sticking someone’s head in an oven and their legs in ice and then taking their temperature. ‘On average’, they are feeling just fine and at a normal body temperature. But their ‘average’ temperature does not accurately reflect their present reality.”

However, with more than willing accomplices in the liberal mainstream media, Mr. Obama has ridden a mediated tidal wave of support through the jaw-dropping imbalance of positive news coverage his campaign has received. If the Spiral of Silence thesis is accurate, this means that the lopsided liberal coverage—not Mr. Obama’s race—will have been responsible for silencing support for Senator McCain in national polls.