How are Exit Polls worded?

I was in a discussion of state politics, who the best Virginia Dem Senate candidate should be. I was stating my pros and cons about the two candidates. A negative for Miller was his past association with the Electronic Voting Machine people.

I stated my belief that I do not trust a non-verified electronic ballot and I do believe that the 2004 Presidential election was NOT completely honest. The other Dem supporter disagreed, so I started citing the Ohio discrepancies and stated that we depend on exit polls to verify honest elections in other countries, so why do we think they do not indicate foul play in our own?

I believed that exit polls ask bluntly, "Who did you vote for?"

He said they are worded on issues and trends (like the Zogby poll I take online occasionally), with questions like, "How often do you go to church?" -- "Do you belong to a union?" -- "Do you have minor children living at home?" -- "Do you have a family member in the Armed Services?" -- "How do you feel about Gay Marriage?" The questions are then processed and the vote is extrapolated from the combination of answers.

Has anyone here done Exit Polling? What kind of questions are asked?

I wondered what some of those questions have to do with who I voted for. Questions about the union, income, persons living in the home, church, are irrelevant.

Is that what they ask?

Or are you also referring to a telephone poll or an internet poll?

And never seen anyone else polled either - never seen a poll taker for that matter.

We have an exact copy of the ballot and we ask people to fill it out in private and sign an affidavit that they will fill it out the same way they just voted. We can't even ask before they vote, has to be after. I don't know for a fact, but I would imagine zogby's would ask exactly the same question on the ballot. otherwise you couldn't call it an exit poll, it would be a "survey".

The man must have confused the two. Why did I assume he knew more than I do about the subject? He probably doesn't even read DU.

This should probably be put out there on the "DU Resources" Forum by people like you and by anyone who has answered or asked the commercial exit polls, so that others don't get stumped by it like I did.

To be an exit poll, it must ask "how did you vote?" No more, no less.