The year was 2004.
The source was USAT: Gallup defends results against MoveOn.org attack
The complaint, the wrong mix of partisans in the sample:
In recent weeks, complaints about the USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup polls had mostly been aired in "blogs," or online diaries, on the Internet. Tuesday, the issue spilled into the "mainstream media." MoveOn.org, a liberal advocacy group, paid $68,000 to run a full-page ad in The New York Times. The ad’s headline: "Gallup-ing to the Right. Why does America’s top pollster keep getting it wrong?"
The ad goes on to say that "two media outlets, CNN and USA TODAY, bear special responsibility" because "they pay for many of Gallup’s surveys."
At issue: Whether too many Republicans end up being counted as "likely voters" in Gallup’s polls. In the past six USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup polls this year, about 40% of the likely voters in the surveys said they considered themselves to be Republicans. By one measure, that’s higher than might be expected: Exit polls after the past three presidential elections showed that about 35% of voters in those years said they were Republicans.
[…]
Critics say the debate over Gallup’s work is important because the media’s reporting of polls can affect the dynamics of a campaign. "We need the most accurate information possible. Next week the stories could be ‘Kerry’s surging in the polls,’ but would that be true?" asks Markos Moulitsas Zniga, who’s dailykos.com blog is a popular site for liberals
Gee, where have I heard this before?
BTW, for those who may have forgotten how the story ended, it ends up that the samples were capturing more Republican voters at the time because the Republican candidate was more popular, ultimately, than the Democratic one and said Republican went on to win the election in November.
(As an aside, how cute are the scare quotes around “blogs” along with the parenthetical definition?)
