Mobocracy - Hardcover

Argues that the media's obsession with polling drives public policy, subverts elections, and decides what is seen on the television news, and exposes how the questionable science of polls can be manipulated.

The media is lying to you...
...and it's using "public opinion" to keep you misinformed. Welcome to the world of Mobocracy―a place where opinion polls, wielded by a cynical, ideologically-driven press, distort the news and change opinion. It's a place where the fleeting whims of a largely ignorant populace are used to supplant thoughtful, reasonable debate, and where, all too often, pollsters and the art they practice are shrouded behind a cloudy curtain of clever wording, data manipulation, and hidden agendas.
This is Mobocracy.
Never before in the history of our nation have public opinion polls played such a central role in the way policy is conceived, molded, and enacted. And at no time has there been a more dangerous and misleading abuse of public opinion than now. In Mobocracy, Matthew Robinson uncovers how the media's obsession with polling drives public policy, subverts elections, and decides what we see on the evening news. He reveals how our country's democratic process has been corrupted by the mob rule of an ill-informed electorate whose opinions are trumpeted at the expense of thoughtful reporting.
Through meticulous research and insightful interviews, this book exposes how the questionable science of polls can be manipulated, how poll-driven news leads to shallow coverage, and how many of our elected officials have come to serve poll results more than they serve their constituents. You will discover the underhanded ways that polls―not the Constitution or the law―drove the Clinton impeachment process, the 2000 presidential election, the confirmation hearings of government officials, and other critical events. You will find how coverage of many of the most divisive issues, such as abortion, gun control, and health care, is manipulated by polling that too often seeks to further an agenda, not measure opinion. And you will learn how to see through these ruses in the future.
Timely, provocative, and thoughtful, Mobocracy is a wake-up call to those concerned about the health of our republic and our freedom under the Constitution.
"If you've thought polls tell lies and that most politicians are cowards, here's the proof."
―David Limbaugh, author of Absolute Power

"Finally, someone has said what needed to be said―persuasively and passionately―about our cultural obsession with polls. Matt Robinson's insight and observations are worthy of debate and reflection."
―Joseph Farah, editor, WorldNetDaily.com

"Matt Robinson has performed an invaluable service for the American public; he has meticulously documented how the once-benign concept of gauging public opinion has been perverted into a weapon wielded by journalists with a political agenda. He's stripped away the veneer of respectability that the nation's media giants have tried to build around their misdeeds."
―David Limbaugh, author of Absolute Power

"Polling today is embedded in the culture of journalism. But as Matt Robinson so compellingly points out, at the very least the media must apply the same degree of journalistic skepticism to their own polling efforts as they do to the institutions and leaders they covet."
―John Merline, USA Today