Polls inclined to show results purveyors want to see

With one day before the election, the AJC printed that the GOP run-off between Cagle and Kemp was “tight” and coming down to the wire. How could you and so many other pollsters be so wrong? With only two people running in an election, a win with a margin of 55-45 is considered a landslide, a huge margin of victory. A 70-30 win is almost unheard of. So how could all of the polls be so wrong – again? Why aren’t the pollsters being asked this question? Do you not recognize that you/they have a problem?

The answer is not complicated (as the pollsters will surely tell you it is — so that they can keep charging you for their services). It is because 1) the pollsters poll the people they think will give them the answers they want, and 2) it wouldn’t be news (or would it?) if the pollsters published that their numbers showed a 70-30 margin.

BILL DANIEL, JOHNS CREEK

Humans are indeed one; that doesn’t preclude racism

In response to “Impossible to be racist if only one race” (Readers Write, July 27), the letter writer suggests that since there’s but one human race, there can be no racism. He bases that on the story of Adam and Eve. While I agree with the basic premise of a single race of humans, I suggest a more indisputable proof would be the science of genetics, which applies regardless of one’s religion. In any case, the validity of our oneness as humans doesn’t preclude the fact that some still cling to ideas that separate us. For them, “race” is real and supports their ideas of inherent differences – that is, racism. Unfortunately, while those ideas hold, racism exists even if its basis, “race,” does not.

DARRYL WEAVER, ATLANTA

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In this photo from 1997, then-U.S. Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga. (in wheelchair), and fellow senators (left to right) Bob Kerrey, D-Neb.; John McCain, R-Ariz.; Charles Hagel, R-Neb.; John Kerry, D-Mass.; and Chuck Robb, D-Va. walk along the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall behind the wreath they would lay to commemorate the 15th anniversary of groundbreaking for the memorial. All six senators served in Vietnam, and Cleland lost both legs and an arm in that war. (Rick McKay/Washington Bureau)

Credit: Rick McKay

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Passengers wait at a Delta check-in counter at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. It was the first day the Federal Aviation Administration cut flight capacity at airports during the government shutdown. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com