Jer wrote:
Another question...suppose the Spanish media were in bed with the old government the way the US media is in bed with Bush & Co? Do you think the polls they were showing were accurate??
Most polls had PP leading by a 3 to 4 % margin. Several polls; hence no governmental driving. Given statistical error, the most PSOE could hope for was a near tie.
But pollsters supposed an attendance to vote at about 70%, the normal historical level. This means, they filter the responses and leave out those less enthusiastic about voting. 78% of the Spaniards went to the polls.
According to the IPSOS-Eco Consulting exit poll, only 1% of those interviewed actually changed their vote in the last 2 days before the election.
But it seems that many who had abstention in mind -mostly young people and centrists- decided, in the last days, to vote.
The biggest Spanish TV networks are government owned. They always held Aznar's view. Private TV had the same view.
This did not happen with newspapers and radio, even if there was pressure from the government. Aznar himself called "El País", Spain's leading newspaper, to express his conviction about ETA being behind the attacks. But neither "El País" nor other papers paid attention to his plea.
According to leading Spanish socialists, "word of mouth" was the more important media against the government's failed cover-up operation.
