Editing Countdown with Keith Olbermann (section)

===The "Keith number"===
During the [[United States presidential primary|2008 U.S. Presidential Primary]] season, Olbermann began using the term "Keith number" in reference to the sum of a pre-election [[Opinion poll|opinion poll's]] [[margin of error]] and the percentage of respondents who are undecided. Olbermann believes this value tends to be predictive of the extent to which a poll may vary from actual election results, and also of the volatility of the electorate's leanings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/mysterypollster/2008/021408.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217115438/http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/mysterypollster/2008/021408.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 17, 2008 |title=The Keith number |last=Blumenthal |first=Mark |date=February 14, 2008 |access-date=2008-04-05 |work=Mystery Pollster |publisher=[[National Journal]] }}</ref>

To summarize:
* The greater the poll's margin of error, the farther the results may be from the ''current'' views of the voters.
* The more undecided voters, the more likely voters are to change their views in the ''future''.

On the January 11, 2008, episode of ''Countdown'', Olbermann described the number as follows:
{{cquote|What, you ask, is the 'Keith number'? This is the margin of error plus the percentage of undecided &mdash; in this case, four-and-a-half margin of error plus five percent undecided. I thought of it, so I named it after myself. You think of a better caveat for polls from now on and we'll name it after you.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna22648992|title=''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'' for January 11, 2008|date=2008-01-14|publisher=[[NBC News]]|work=Countdown with Keith Olbermann|access-date=2020-04-16|archive-date=2016-03-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305094908/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22648992/|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Olbermann's "Keith number" is unrelated (mathematically or otherwise) to [[Keith number|the more traditional use of the term]].