Topline numbers don't mean sh*t till the crosstabs come in. I don't know what the obsession with numbers that conform to peoples' perception of reality is though, where any result that looks like an aberration is immediately written off as worthless.
It isn't as much peoples' perception of reality as the actual reality. Some polls ARE trash. And if they contradict each other someone must be wrong. Polling is not really an area where a relativist or subjectivist approach to reality is very meaningful.
