Why does Ron Paul win online polls but do so miserably in regular polls?

I have heard he has an army of people who sit around all day dialing phone polls and voting on internet polls, but could there be a group of people who are that bored? I have never met anyone who supports him. What is the actual reason for the difference between the two types of polls when it comes to his support? In fairness, I have seen "Ron Paul" spray painted on a few block walls and white bedsheets and taped to a few walls, which I doubt does much to gain support from normal people. Uh, the internet people being more informed thing doesn't really work, since most everyone is "on the internet" now. So the people voting in big name phone polls are also probably on the internet as much as any other average person. Sorry, but many of the polls he did poorly in were random samples of registered Republicans, not caucus goers.

Public Comments

1. Regular polls ask a cross-section of society, not just dweebs.
2. We'll see in the next week how he does and how real the polls are. I see a lot of bumper stickers and actually roadside graffiti supporting him also.
3. Real simple people on web can make decisions for themselves because they have unlimited information. People that watch tv have to look through the tunnel vision they are provided with. If people were informed hey would believe the same whether online or otherwise. Everyone loves freedom. Freedom of person and freedom of money. Re: Phoenix. If those people know their way around the internet guess they are voting in the online polls, so obviously the call polls are biased and the internet ones are more accurate. They definitely represent a larger sample.
4. Online polls are base in fantasy and regular polls are base in science. I don't see why anyone thinks he is such great stuff. Than again people are allow to make their choices in life. Mine is not Ron Paul
5. kids can vote on these polls and same person can vote over and over and over again...
6. Brandon R has the best answer I have seen to this sort of question.
7. Most national polls merely poll those people who caucused in the previous elections. These people are the same people who voted Bush in two times. If the party does not have a major surge of votes for a "new style," the former will likely hold true again. Having said that, the polls generally look at how the past voters will likely vote in the elections. However, and as mentioned before it does not take into account those new caucus goers for any new style GOP voters.
8. I see signs all over that say Who is Ron Paul? I really would like to know, Who the heck is Ron Paul????
9. Polls are conducted from a small sample of people who voted in the last election. Bush ran unopposed in the Rep. primaries in 2004. Thus there was a low turn out and the only republicans who voted were die hard Bush supporters. Polls are no good. They leave to many undecided variables.
10. Grass roots. Ron Paul has zero lobbyists backing him from corporations. He has ideals that do not suit a profitable government. He lives by his ideals and dies by them. You don't see him "running" polls because he wouldn't be able to attain such exposure. Do not be so naive, there are influences outside our government. Just look up the definition of a lobbyist. Nice to meet you, I support Ron Paul.
11. The regular polls are only done on land lines and they only poll people who voted in a previous republican primary. That means a lot of his supporters don't have a say on those polls. His supporters include Independents, young people who haven't voted before, revitalized apathetics, people who just use cell phones, and even democrats! He has a powerful campaign that is gaining ground daily. We will find out tomorrow if those "regular polls" mean anything. Check out these straw polls that have been conducted. http://www.ronpaul2008.com/straw-poll-results/
12. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRTDynbHVYQ
13. The whole "spamming" theory is getting old. A lot of people think others sit around and vote numerous times for Ron Paul on internet polls, but most of the online polls don't allow that. He has a large group of very passionate supporters that do everything they can to get Ron Pauls name out there because they know the mainstream media isn't going to. They realize that they have to do some pretty outrageous things to get Ron Paul's message heard. Why don't people understand that his supporters are so crazy about him because everything he stands for stems from the constitution alone and nothing else? The constitution is what is SUPPOSED to govern this country. Those that disagree with him can't think of any ligitimate reason as to why he's wrong, so they come up with ridiculous accusations like "his supporters are just spammers or kooky". But, to answer your question, the reason he doesn't do well in regular polls is because they only phone those that voted in last term's elections and those that use land lines. A large amount of his supporters are first-time voters that did not vote last term. Also, they tend to be more tech-savvy and either don't own land lines and only use cell phones or they screen their phone calls and don't pick up unknown numbers that may be pollsters.
14. I received a call from one of these national polls and Ron Paul wasn't an option. I'm assuming they called because I'm a registered republican. They named candidates and the last choice was "Other" and when I pressed the number for "Other" the message said "Thanks for your vote, we will remove your name from our list".........Was that a fair poll???? No. I'm assuming many other polls are doing the same thing. Polls are set up to get a certain response and anyone who doesn't believe this needs to do a little research on how polls like this are conducted. It only makes my support for Ron Paul that much more passionate. I used to think I lived in a country where any kid next door could become president. Does anyone really feel that's how things are these days? I'm a supporter but I don't have time to sit around all day and dial numbers (I've never called into a poll) or vote on internet polls (I've voted when I come across one but I don't actively seek them out). I'm not exactly sure what the difference is, it will be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks. No matter what anyone thinks about a candidate, they should all get fair coverage in the media. If we've lost that, we've lost the ability to have free and true elections.