Are both sides of the presidential election faking the polling results?

[tpunx99GSX]

I was talking to my brother about this a while back, and it sort of makes sense.
He stated "The polling places are making this race to be much closer than it actually is, and that Obama is actually many points ahead. The problem is that if they come out and say that, its going to cause voters to not be excited about the election. The Romney campaign wants this also so they get their base excited and donating as well as getting their voters out there to push for them and close the gap."
Do you think the pollsters are skewing the results of polls you see coming up to the election?
Makes me look at the Obama vs Mccain and think, this is possibly the same thing that was happening then, as the polls up to the election seemed much closer than the actual results.

[Kracka]

It's possible, but I think it really goes both ways on both sides. Statistics are very easy to manipulate into "proving" exactly what you want to appear true.

The media wants a tight race since they can buzz it up a lot more. This is why it's so common for slight miswordings to be blown way out of proportion and made into huge deals.

[A//// Guy]

The media is really who controls things it seems. Ron Paul was barely covered at all in his race. And who controls the media? It all seems rigged.

[Kracka]

Politics is turning into a giant reality show, just like the Olympics was turned into. Editing for added/artificial drama, etc.

[tpunx99GSX]

24 hour news cycle, where a "Story" lasts only 48 hours. Basically, News ADD.
There are many ways to do what you say tricking people where they will tend to agree with something if its slightly toward their opinion.
Example: Guns kill people, if you like guns then you favor murder, do you favor murder?
O Yes i favor murder
O No I do not favor murder and think guns should be banned.

Granted this is an way out there example and some are more subtle than this, but you get the idea. Im talking more about the polls that are straight up "Who will you vote for" or "Who is stronger on economic policy" type polls.

[Kracka]

Yes, they are skewed, it all depends on the polling sample and who they "randomly" contact. I'm willing to bet they track everything and know exactly what the results will be before even conducting the poll.

[Goat Blower]

Yep, I've generally seen that each side of the media bumps their candidate up a bit, happens every year.