NUMBERS GAME:

The Exit Poll Charade: Why Slate is publishing the exit poll numbers (Jack Shafer, Nov. 2, 2004, Slate)

As this item posts, the first raw exit poll data are streaming from the National Election Pool consortium owned by the Associated Press and the five television networks (CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, and CNN) to their news divisions and to the newsrooms of NEP subscribers—big city newspapers and other broadcasters. [...]

Slate believes its readers should know as much about the unfolding election as the anchors and other journalists, so given the proviso that the early numbers are no more conclusive than the midpoint score of a baseball game, we're publishing the exit poll numbers as we receive them. Some people say it's irresponsible to publish the numbers—or broadcast early projections of winners—because it may disturb voter turnout. As Slate Editor Jacob Weisberg put it in today's Times, he doesn't want to put the Web site "in the paternalistic position of deciding that our readers aren't mature enough to react in the proper way to truthful information we possess."

Watch this space. …

MORE:
Exit Polls: What You Should Know (Mystery Pollster, 11/02/04)
-U.S. stocks jarred by early call favoring Kerry (Mark Cotton, 110/02/04, CBS MarketWatch)

U.S. stocks fell from their highs Tuesday amid reports that John Kerry is putting in a strong early showing at the polls.

"The only thing I can see is that the Drudge Report shows the preliminary exit polls showing Kerry within striking distance," said Jay Suskind, director of trading of Ryan, Beck & Co.

The dollar fell against the yen and pared an advance versus the euro on speculation exit polls on some Web sites are favorable to Democrat John Kerry.