Update: AOL Poll for Bigfoot and Jeff Meldrum
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on November 21st, 2006
Two weeks ago when I posted the AOL Poll, the numbers were changing rapidly. Well, at least the total number of votes was changing. The percentage of people voting one way or the other remained constant.
When I initially posted it, the percentage for Bigfoot existing was 59% yes to 41% no. It has since stayed constant at 58% yes to 42% no.
At the time that this was posted, the results were:
| Do you think Bigfoot exists? | |
| Yes | 58% |
| No | 42% |
| Total Votes: 243,057 | |
At this time, the poll for Jeff Meldrum’s tenure is no longer on the site. The results below are what was posted at the last time I saw it.
| Do you think Jeffrey Meldrum’s tenure should be revoked? | |
| No | 88% |
| Yes | 12% |
| Total Votes: 232,938 | |
Be sure to go to the AOL poll by clicking here and weigh in with your vote.
Stand up and be counted…
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
Are you trying to intentionally skew the results of a poll toward a position that you favor? If so, what is the point?
Isn’t it more instructive to let a general sample of people who find the poll to answer, rather than feeding people who are more likely to vote yes for the first question, and no to the second, into the sample?
By creating this post and driving readers of this site to the poll, Bigfoot ‘believers’ are now more likely to actually be over-represented in the sample. We already know that a vast majority of readers of this site believe/think/know that Bigfoot exists. Personally, I’m much more interested in seeing what the general populace thinks.
jjmes, unless i am reading this wrong, there were already 243,000 people sampled. That is a fairly large sample and the number stayed constant after the post. I am not sure what the point of your post is. The general populace did vote.
Unfortunately the general populace does not know much about anything! Heck, most people do not even know who their leaders are! I personally could care less what the populace believes about Bigfoot. It is just an opinion based on emotion and what they have been fed over the years. But I am glad to see that most people support Dr. Meldrum; a moment of sanity!
I believe that Dr. Meldrum was attacked by jealous co-workers. What a great job he has! To spend his days pondering Bigfoot! Wish I had his job! I feel Dr. Meldrum is a true scientist in quest of the unknown. After/if/when Dr. Meldrum proves Bigfoot, many scientists will ride his coat-tails. They will declare, “We always knew Bigfoot was real! What do you think we are, stupid or something?”. These same scientists now laugh at Bigfoot! What a silly notion? But they can’t tell us the meaning of life, the workings of the universe and why we are here.
There is so little that we really do know and the possibility of Bigfoot being real is a rather tame concept, considering what we still have to learn.
Dr. Meldrum is a hero and deserves a public apology! Since he will not get that, I say send all the Bigfoot believers to the AOL poll and slant it as much as possible, in favor of Bigfoot and Dr. Meldrum. Perhaps a clear message will be sent to those seeking the demise of Dr. Meldrum and perhaps they might learn to think twice before they open their flappers! So go to AOL and vote for Bigfoot with a big smile and sense of justice!
hey craig great new update poll article. bill
What the poll indicates is that despite all the negative press the media throws at the bigfoot question, people are weighing the evidence for themselves and making up their own minds.
Dr. Meldrum should be held in high regard by keeping his head up and not taking an attack back stance. He is letting the work stand for itself and did a well researched book which his collegues did not even read most likely and passed judgment.
I voted.
Let’s stuff that ballot box! The only truth is the truth that serves our cause!
Seriously, I wonder how the physicist quoted in that article would respond if I walked into his office and asked him how the hell a rational person could explain the universe with a bunch of numbers. When it comes to this topic, he’s a layman, no, worse, a yahoo, and should shut his trap except when he’s talking about something he understands.
The point of the poll in the first place is for people to voice their opinion. I wouldn’t have even known about the poll if not for Cryptomundo and if you think these things have any real weight in the world,I have a bigfoot pal for you to meet.
Seriously, polls and incidents like this require the cryptozoology minority to step forward and make their voice known to add weight to this science and its endeavors. It does no harm in instances like this where AOL is actively putting out polls, to stand up and show our numbers so that other readers and onlookers can at least see that, whoa, there are quite a few people who do believe this stuff is for real.
I salute Dr. Meldrum for his courage and dedication in taking on such a sensitive subject and giving it the much needed credibility it deserves. In a world where there are still those that believe that the world is flat and the sun rotates around the earth it makes his work that much more refreshing. By the way, I’m part of the general populace. At least the part that isn’t closed-minded to the world and studies of cryptids.
Mk2_bigfoot: Yes, the sample size is more than sufficient so that the numbers won’t change one way or another. My point is that it is still counter-productive to encourage an over-representation of people who do ‘believe’ in Bigfoot, regardless of what the sample size is.
jjames: yet another aspect of the search for sas over which we can all disagree.
Read a recent interview with Matt Crowley on the SRI site; he talks about how it sticks in his craw that there are all these data points, and so far no body. The counterpoint could easily be made that this is the very reason we need to constantly expand the data points. Until there is a massive amount of anecdotal, track and sign evidence that brings the big guns of science into the fight on the premise that where there’s smoke there’s fire, we shouldn’t expect to have a body (or equivalent; I put myself firmly in the no-kill school).
So, hey, let’s cook some numbers! Maybe a few more scientists might think: hmmmmmm. Must be something to all this sasquatch stuff.
Kidding. But not, know what I mean?
No one should ever take an on-line poll seriously.
I gotta give Dr Meldrum credit. He has the integrity to go out and research this no matter what happens. I teach science in Japan, and I don’t think I would ever make my interest in cryptozoology known to the majority of students and definately not to the other teachers where I work. I’ve done some research into the tsuchinoko (a cryptid snake in Japan, for those who don’t know), and I don’t have the guts to risk my job or people taking me seriously by telling everybody what I’m up to! I guess if I had tenure, I’d have more clout, but I don’t so I keep my mouth shut. I commend Dr. Meldrum on sticking to his guns and on his in depth research.
And by the way, there are scientists out here who are very open-minded about cryptozoology! Just not enough! Too many are too focused on the number crunching, as DWA so accurately put it.