"We have found that even a modestly sophisticated statistical model does very little to counter unreliable data"... so.. garbage in... garbage out?

I have an alternative explanation for this : people who buy newspapers and mainstream web sites are liberal. Pollsters and analysts who wish to make a living must get clicks and sell copy. The ones that create models that agree with the general zeitgeist of the liberal milieu get clicks and sell copy, other models are gradually ground to extinction.

Markets are not efficient mechanisms for creating insight.