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US Media Call Election Results From â€˜Quarantine Roomâ€™

07 November 2012 03:57 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. After the presidential election debacle of 2000, when election results in the US state of Florida were incorrectly called for then-Vice President Al Gore based on exit polling information from voting locations, American media outlets are taking pains to avoid any such errors again, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.
On Tuesday morning, representatives from five major US TV networks and the Associated Press entered into a â€œquarantine room,â€ a secret location with no cell phone or Internet access. In that room, data provided by a single exit polling company was simultaneously released to everyone.
By 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT), staffers from American news agencies ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and the Associated Press were permitted to start sending data to their respective news organizations, while additional exit poll information kept coming in.
However, the information that they could provide were only general trends garnered from exit polls.
According to those results released Tuesday evening, about half of all voters still blamed former President George W. Bush more than President Barack Obama for the countryâ€™s economic problems.
The exit poll results released by the AP found that 60 percent of voters named the economy as their top issue, followed by health care at 17 percent, the budget deficit at 15 percent, and foreign policy at four percent, Politico reported.
Only 24 percent of voters surveyed said their families finances are better off than they were four years ago, while 39 percent said the economy is improving.
Voters were split on the direction of the country. Forty-six percent said itâ€™s headed in the right direction, while 52 percent said itâ€™s on the wrong track.
Meanwhile, news organizations were not permitted to publish or broadcast any information that suggested which way a state was leaning until its polls closed and actual vote numbers started coming in.
In 2008, when polls in Americaâ€™s western time zone closed, all five television networks and the AP called the election for Barack Obama. But this year, officials expect a much closer race and a longer night.
â€œWe might not be able to make a call on election night,â€ David Pace, the AP’s news editor for elections and special projects, told the Huffington Post.
The major TV networks have also agreed to not have their reporters tweet exit poll results, post them on Facebook or re-tweet figures that are reported by others.
â€œWe donâ€™t get any pressure from our bosses to be first here,â€ Pace said. â€œWe get pressure to be right.â€