This might be the last time we look in on the laughably inaccurate Pulse Polls as their influence has waned after inacurate after inacurate poll is published.. The polls’ record of predicting elections was inaccurate in 2022, but was even more wildly off the mark in 2024. The influence of the polls has waned in recent years, they are rarely reported on outside of the Lookout, where the people that pay for the polls also just happen to be major advertisers. But the attempt to inject their misinformation into the public deserves a call-out.
In September, the Pulse Polls focused two questions on the November election. Pulse Polls texted 1,500 people who signed up to receive their messages and self-identified as Santa Monica residents. Roughly 100 people responded to the poll,and as we’ve seen in the past, the poll skewed right. But this time, the results skewed into self-parody.
According to the Polls, the Safer Santa Monica Slate of Phil Brock, Oscar de la Torre, John Putnam and Vivian Roknian were going to cruise to victory over the United Democratic Slate of Dan Hall, Ellis Raskin, Barry Snell and Natalya Zernitskaya. The poll showed that Safer Slate members would earn somewhere between six and ten times the votes of those on the United State.
Of course, that “snapshot” provided by Pulse Polls was completely inaccurate, even more so than it was in 2022 (when it was also completely inaccurate.)
But the fun doesn’t stop there. The Pulse Polls also asked a question on Measure A, the county ballot measure that will increase the county sales tax to fund more homelessness solutions. Pulse Polls showed that a shocking 96% of Santa Monicans would oppose such a measure. In actuality, Santa Monica voters supported Measure A with roughly 62.5% of the vote.
