A Thank You or Two...and Some Housekeeping
Mark Blumenthal | November 3, 2008
Topics: Pollster.com
First, a very personal thank you. I was surprised and deeply gratified by the response to my post a week ago about the death of my father-in-law, both in the comments and by email. I apologize for not responding to every note personally -- I am hoping to do so after the election. My wife's family has, for most of the last week, been practicing the Jewish ritual of Shiv'ah, and I have frankly struggled to balance my obligations to family and those to this site during the final, incredibly busy week for which we have prepared for the better part of two years. So your kind words have been a great comfort.
More important, those who left comments should know that without realizing it, paid your own virtual visit to the home of the Burstin family and thus did what Jews consider a great "mitzvah" (a good deed commanded by God). On Tuesday night, following the funeral, I shared my post with my wife and my brother-in-law who had been, up until then, understandably preoccupied with other matters. The immediately scrolled down to read the comments and were visibly moved by the outpouring of kindness shown by so many strangers who never knew their father. So please accept my thanks on their behalf as well (the most appropriate place to make contributions in Frank Burstin's would be the United States Holocaust Museum).
Second and more generally. We quietly achieved the milestone of a million page views about a week ago and have served over 1.2 million pages for five of the last six days. During October, we had over 23 million pages views and 1.9 million absolute unique visitors. I find that level of traffic truly mind boggling, and it is a big reason why I have been so committed to working and posting over the last week. Thank you for your confidence.
We realize that most of you are experiencing a unique, one-every-four-year obsession with polls and polling data, so we have no illusions about where the traffic will head after Wednesday, but we will still be around and have plans for aggregating, charting and analyzing public opinion more broadly as we move into a new presidential administration next year. We hope you come back and check in on us from time to time.
Meanwhile, a few "housekeeping notes." We apologize for the slow down many of you experienced this morning that seemed to peak about noon eastern time. In reaction to an unusually heavy load of traffic on our servers, our IT support staff made some changes to the way our computers are configured which appears to have eliminated most of the slow down.
Some of you also emailed to report a minor glitch affecting the charts that made the trend line appear to turn back on itself slightly in a few instances that was visible only when you focused on just the last month or two on the trend line. Our Flash developer quickly smashed the bug and we uploaded a new version of the chart program that should solve the problem (though you may need to clear your browser cache and reload the page). If you are still seeing the problem or any other glitch, please drop us an email.
Also, we quietly added a feature last week that some of you will find helpful over these last 24 hours. The main "Poll" pages for Polls on the races for President, Senate, Governor and U.S. House now feature tables showing the current trend estimates and classifications for all races, including all 107 House races for which we have data (some of which have been added too late to be included on our House map). An undocumented tip: You can easily copy and paste those tables into a spreadsheet for sorting or further manipulation.
Stay tuned for more tomorrow: We will be live blogging about the results tomorrow night and will have a special, expanded election night map with results and network calls.
And finally, a request I hope offends no one. I'm going to add the "donate" button to our front page and side bar so, if you have enjoyed this site and would be willing, you can make a contribution and help us both build a better site for the future and help me give an end of cycle bonus to Eric and others who have worked very hard over the last two years to bring you the charts and data every day. (And no, donations are not tax deductible).
By Mark Blumenthal | November 3, 2008 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (28) | TrackBacks (0)
Comments
Thanks again for all your work. We promise not to blame you should things not go as we wish.
Condolences on your father-in-law. May his memory be a blessing.
Posted on November 3, 2008 5:43 PM
Is it still possible to contribute a great "mitzvah" to the home of the Burstin family? And please do make it easy to find you and your blogs in the future. Thanks again from an u.s citizen who is especially grateful for your work.
Posted on November 3, 2008 5:45 PM
THANK YOU!!!!!! (even though this site greatly reduced my productivity at work for the last 10 months! :) )
Posted on November 3, 2008 5:48 PM
Thank you Mark!
Glad to donate and help with the bonuses - maybe a typing class for Eric :) You guys are great!
Posted on November 3, 2008 5:52 PM
Thanks for the site, and although I missed it before, my condolences to you.
Posted on November 3, 2008 5:58 PM
Mark,
This has been an awesome web site, and the presentation of graphs and data is nothing short of amazing.
Thank you, and Prof. Franklin and all the others for your hard work.
Posted on November 3, 2008 6:06 PM
I've followed this site for a few weeks now, though have never commented, and want to take the opportunity to say a huge thank you to all who worked to give us such great analysis and factual detail. It's been top quality stuff always!
It looks like it's been a labour of love but now that there's a 'Donate' button I'm happy to make it 'for profit' too ;-)
Posted on November 3, 2008 6:22 PM
If Obama wins I will Donate a few bucks your way Mark.
Posted on November 3, 2008 6:23 PM
Thank you, Mark.
I could have spent a lot of money on counseling or psychoactive substances to stabilize my moods during this gut-churning cycle.
Instead, I visited your site. And I apologize for not being as devoted to statistical analysis as perhaps the earlier crew were. Hope the color commentary was not too distracting.
It's been good for my writing, too.
Happy to help out.
Posted on November 3, 2008 6:27 PM
Pollster website fans: 93%
Disgruntled visitors whose posts are banned: 4%
Undecided: 3%.
* * *
Last week, about the time you reported your father-in-law's death, the latest edition of the New Yorker had a cartoon with one pallbearer at a funeral saying to another, "At least he had already voted absentee." Perhaps it is inappropriate to mention here, but the truth is that my mind keeps coming back to that thought -- with Studs Terkel's loss, and again today with the sad news about Barack's Obama's grandmother.
Posted on November 3, 2008 7:15 PM
Donation made. You more than deserved it. You have a fantastic Website, one which helped me greatly over the past couple week, including keeping me sane (or at least more sane -wink-).
But, if Obama loses, may I get a refund? ... joking, of course.
Posted on November 3, 2008 7:15 PM
Mark,
I discovered your site after seeing you interviewed on TV (CNN?). With all the fake claims floating around by news sites that would rather make news than report news (FoxNews!), it was wonderful to be able to get an honest report on your site. I was happy to make a small donation. You guys earned it!
Dan
Posted on November 3, 2008 7:17 PM
Mark,
I discovered your site after seeing you interviewed on TV (CNN?). With all the fake claims floating around by news sites that would rather make news than report news (FoxNews!), it was wonderful to be able to get an honest report on your site. I was happy to make a small donation. You guys earned it!
Dan
Posted on November 3, 2008 7:18 PM
In a time so riddled with uncertainty, the calming ripples of line charts, the steadiness of regression graphs, and the thoughtful and insightful analysis have been my saviours.
All the best wishes for you and your family.
Posted on November 3, 2008 7:28 PM
I'm one of those who discovered this site in the last, nail-biting month of this election. Just wanted to say thanks--I've learned a great deal and have felt empowered when I've heard conflicting reports from the television pundits and from the hapless pollster in the employ of McCain's campaign. Thank you for demystifying your field of specialty.
Posted on November 3, 2008 7:36 PM
Please leave the donate button up as long as possible. Is paypal the only format available?
Posted on November 3, 2008 8:27 PM
Thank you for all your work...I hope you realize how much you've provided all of us the last 6 months. Best of luck and our condolences and prayers!
Posted on November 3, 2008 8:28 PM
God Bless Mark - Thanks for the wonderful site, as well as your patience with our sometimes over zealousness.
Posted on November 3, 2008 8:41 PM
Thank you Mark for all of your hard work. My HS students also thank you for making them see that math has very important applications, and that it can be fun.
Posted on November 3, 2008 9:21 PM
Marc, Is the donation tax-deductible? Bill
Posted on November 3, 2008 9:41 PM
Mark, thanks so much for the wonderful site and giving me a whole new perspective on the political process. This is the first election where I have spent many days and hours pouring over the polls and reading all the great commentaries and opinions of many dedicated people such as yourself. I'm looking forward to (finally!!) unfettered sleep tomorrow night!
I'm sure you will have many things to keep you busy in the coming months and years of the Obama presidency to keep you site up and running and interesting.
Also, my belated, but sincere condolences on the passing of your father-in-law.
I promise to send along a modest donation soon, as you all deserve it! ON TO VICTORY!!
Obama/Biden 08
Posted on November 3, 2008 10:20 PM
You have been a valuable resource in understanding the sometimes confusing, sometimes frustrating, and, dare I say illuminating field of political polls.
Let me add my condolences to your family's loss and my thanks for a life preserved by God in the most horrendous of circumstances that so obviously returned his investment many fold.
Posted on November 4, 2008 1:29 AM
Ha-Makom yenahem etkhem b'tokh sha ar aveilei Tzion vYerushalayim
Posted on November 4, 2008 3:18 AM
Thanks, Mark, for everything. I've visited this site every day for the last few months.
I would like to express late condolences for your father-in-law as well.
Posted on November 4, 2008 8:36 AM
I love that final IBD poll that suddenly jumps up to a bigger spread. Perhaps they have a bridge or some dehydrated waater I could buy.
Posted on November 4, 2008 9:41 AM
I gave a speech the other day and was asked how ordinary readers/viewers/listeners could make sense out of all the polls. I said, "Thank heavens for Pollster.com." I was also asked about what the electoral guesses were ahead of 2000 and 2004; and I'm confident these numbers were not stuck in my head because there was no Pollster.com at that time to visit on a daily basis. This is an extraordinary tool. Thank you for all the work.
Posted on November 4, 2008 10:07 AM
Mark,
Many condolescences to your wife and family.
I discovered this site before the caucuses and primaries in the Fall of 2007 and I reference it to friends and family every chance I get.
Congratulations on hitting 1 million hits this past week. I don't know what I'll do after today, but I'll definitely be a "regular" in a year and a half for the midterms.
Bryan
Posted on November 4, 2008 10:56 AM
When people ask me which of the polling websites I reccommend I always direct them here. Pollster.com is complicated enough for other pollsters but also provides a overview suitable for all. A big round of applause for Mark, Prof. Franklin and all those guests and those behind the scenes. And condolences as well.
Posted on November 4, 2008 1:33 PM
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