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posted by CoolHand on Wednesday September 28 2016, @03:07AM   Printer-friendly
from the stuffing-the-ballot-box dept.

You may be getting trolled right now without even knowing it.

Donald Trump supporters artificially manipulated the results of online polls to create a false narrative that the Republican nominee won the first presidential debate on Monday night.

The efforts originated from users of the pro-Trump Reddit community r/The_Donald and 4chan messaged boards, which bombarded around 70 polls, including those launched by Time, Fortune, and CNBC.

In this latest incarnation, multiple Reddit users enlisted the Trump-supporting masses on r/The_Donald, which has over 200,000 subscribers, by posting dozens of online polls that are vulnerable to vote brigading, bots, and other forms of manipulation that make these non-scientific surveys notoriously unreliable.

Polls that were not open to public voting consistently put Clinton ahead of Trump. In a flash poll by Public Policy Polling, Clinton led Trump 51 to 40. A CNN/ORC poll conducted immediately following the debate found significantly stronger support for Clinton, who topped Trump 62 to 27.

http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/trump-clinton-debate-online-polls-4chan-the-donald/


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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday September 28 2016, @05:29PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday September 28 2016, @05:29PM (#407527) Journal

    I wish somebody with deep pockets would mount an independent run. It would have to be a real iconoclast, though, because not many wealthy people remain who don't owe their wealth to the protection and scheming of the old boy network. The last time it happened it was a wealthy guy with deep pockets and a zeal for justice who was never supposed to sit in the big chair and only got there through historical accident (Teddy Roosevelt). He ushered in a raft of progressive changes that built American national wealth and power for the last century, and which the corrupt 1% have now almost completely undone.

    If such a person could be found, however, I think he or she could win. Even as a total unknown, with no real money or name recognition, the Libertarian candidate Johnson is polling at 8%. If you think about it, that's exceptionally good under the circumstances. Somebody who could hire real PR firms and political operators and build a real viable third party would walk away with most of the Independents and the base of both major parties.

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    Washington DC delenda est.
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