| Sumario: | Television carries an especially weighty psychological impact in its coverage of the presidential race, and this was especially apparent in its pronouncement of Republican George W. Bush as victor in the 2000 elections. The networks' declaration was a reality for viewers and created the erroneous impression that the election had been won by Bush only to be stolen by Democrat Al Gore. The networks draw on the same data pool in predicting election results, with no independent source to corroborate or dispute the findings. This, combined with the fact that none of the networks like to be scooped, meant that the networks called the election for Bush without solid evidence, which may in turn have affected the ultimate outcome. There are solutions to this problem—prohibiting the calling of election results before all votes are cast or the establishment of competing data pools—but these may be politically unrealistic.
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