My American friends

have not been in touch overnight. I suspect that they are waiting for an actual result. 

If the news reports here are to be believed then it would seem that Mr Biden has won the election - but not by the landslide that our media was suggesting. They may be wrong. Whatever happens it would seem that there will be questions asked.

I wonder about the polling processes. Are they real? I have met Mr Gary Morgan of Roy Morgan Research, our chief political polling company. He and I once had a long talk about an unrelated matter but he struck me as highly intelligent. He clearly believed in what he was doing. 

But, it was rather a long time ago now. Things have changed. There was no "social media" back then. There were not so many opportunities for the media to influence the outcome of an election. Things are different now.

During the US election campaign I was getting news from a wide variety of sources. Perhaps I am too cynical but I did not fully trust any of them. Is that wrong of me? I don't think so.

There were issues that were issues which were made much of by some sources. The same issues were mentioned by others and not at all by still more. Is this something to worry about? I think it is.

Our news media here has made it quite clear that they are in one camp and not the other. There are things which have not been mentioned at all by the two sources of television news most people take seriously - the ABC and SBS. I don't expect too much serious coverage on the commercial television news stations. For the most part it isn't what viewers there want to know about. They want local news and the sports reports. That's fine but anyone else who needs more also needs a balanced coverage. If there are issues then that is where they are most likely to find out. Avoiding those issues can (and perhaps should) be seen as a blatant attempt to influence outcomes. 

Pollsters now have that to contend with. They also have the likes of me to contend with. I suspect there are a growing number of people like me who refuse to answer poll questions. More than once I have answered the phone to a pollster. I tell them politely that I don't answer such questions. Do I go down as an "undecided"? Perhaps I do but I may not be an "undecided". It would be more honest if they added a column to the results - one which says, "declined to answer". 

I might have answered once but I won't answer now because I know that results can be manipulated. How a question is framed and the options for a response can be used to try and influence public opinion rather than obtain information.  It can be used to try and force change. Media coverage is the same. Reporters and columnists seem to have no qualms about using their power to try and influence public opinion. Some of them even seem to believe it is their duty to do just that.

If polls fail to correctly predict outcomes though is it because people are becoming more aware - or is it because the media is successfully influencing the outcome?