Keller @ Large: Don't Let The Media Tell You The Election's Over
BOSTON (CBS) -- I think I have identified at least one thing that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton strongly agree on--that the news media shouldn't be quite so eager to call this election over.
I am not a big fan of media-bashing, which is usually unwarranted.
First it was the Clinton camp (and the Obama administration, for that matter) whining about allegedly-false narratives, and the media's failure to portray them as the great heroes they imagine themselves to be. More recently, it's the Trumpkins, bitterly accusing us of carrying Clinton's water.
What they all really mean is: you tell too much negative truth about us, and we don't like it.
But I do share their distaste for the horrible media habit of trying to pick a winner in political campaigns before the voters do.
Polls and polling trends are relevant data. But 129 million people voted for president four years ago, and if you believe anyone can predict what even half of them are really thinking right now, you'll believe anything.
Of course, the candidates hate this media obsession for different reasons.
The Clinton people are--or ought to be--frantic to dispel the notion that they're running away with this. Their leads in many of those swing states look awfully thin to me, like the measly four-point edge they have in NH in the new WBZ Radio & TV/UMass Amherst poll.
Anything that promotes complacency and dampens pro-Clinton turnout is a disaster for them.
Trump has the same problem. He can't afford having his troops give up because the media is calling it over.
So, to the media, I suggest cutting it out.
And to the voters, I say don't let anyone ever tell you there's no point in you bothering to vote.
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