Since like forever, people have been wondering why exit polls are so fucked up that they underrepresent Republicans by a little under two percent. Why are Republicans "reluctant?" [Snip]I can see that. Take social conservatives. They are often faith-based religious extremists who ignore and oppose things that most of the mainstream considered settled fact. Evolution is an example. Every time they tell what they really believe they take flack from those with mainstream beliefs. The financial conservatives believe in things like destroying Social Security to improve the economy. They face the same reaction. The Libertarians are highly faith-based, though to tell them that will be to start an argument. And NeoCons simply completely disbelieve in most diplomacy. Troops cause real changes, diplomacy is useless because your enemies will not do what you want/demand unless you hold a gun to their head.
It is very simply because Republicans don't trust the media. When people in my precinct saw network logos on my badge, they refused to participate, in a few cases after they had initially agreed to do so. One even suspected I would change his answers.
Republicans have weird beliefs which lead them to behave strangely. It's an ancient story. But in this case, we don't need an elaborate apparatus of behavioral science to tell us why Republicans won't submit their precious opinions to news orgs: they're afraid they'll be made to seem foolish.
The list is almost endless. I can really see many such people preferring not to talk to pollsters for fear that their opinions will be misrepresented, altered in the report or even laughed at. Most Republicans who believe such things that seem strange to mainstream individuals are not combative people any more than most of us are, so they believe what they believe and prefer not to expose it to others they don't know.
That's my best guess, anyway. As I say, the observation is quite interesting.
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