Primary Mullers
From The Denver Post (editorial):
New Hampshire voters blew conventional political wisdom — old and new — to smithereens Tuesday.
Hillary Clinton, the pre-Iowa frontrunner predicted by pollsters to lose badly to Barack Obama in New Hampshire, surprised the Democratic field with a victory. Her much stronger than expected finish guaranteed the Democratic race is still a lively two-person contest, not a coronation.
…snip…
For now, we can only salute New Hampshire’s independent-minded voters. They not only restored faith in the political process with a record turnout, they proved again that pollsters can’t tell them how to think.
Original DVD cover.
From Zogby International on January 8th:
Fed by a strong win in the Iowa caucuses Thursday, Obama leads with 42% support, compared to 29% for rival Sen. Hillary Clinton.
…snip…
Pollster John Zogby: “Obama’s margin over Clinton has opened up. He leads among all groups except women and voters over 65. In a development that could prove significant in later closed-primary states, Obama has pulled ahead among Democrats 40% to 34% — as he did in Iowa in the closing hours.”
Can you say embarrassing? Mull over those numbers a little longer, pollster guys!
Original photograph.
January 9th, 2008 at 4:25 am
Elbows out as the Democrats clash…
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democratic presidential front-runner no longer, accused campaign rival …
January 9th, 2008 at 7:48 am
Love the sorry wrong number! I wonder if this was female backlash?
January 9th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Seems like we can never again trust those pollsters! I’ll admit I wasn’t doubting the polls yesterday, but I did notice more support for Hillary. She was getting more ratings and it might have to do with her tears and cry of sexism.
January 9th, 2008 at 11:15 am
The very best that polling can do is give you the most general idea of trends. Unless they can poll every person who is going to cast a vote and those people answer honestly and then stick with their answers, polling is IMHO worthless.
My mother used to be polled all the time. Call after call came to her from pollsters. I, by contrast, have never been polled. We held opposite views on just about every subject. Apparently my views don’t count.
As to the “crying” thing, why is this even discussed? Clinton was tired after days and days of non-stop campaigning, she was feeling just a tad emotional. So what? When John Boehner cries crocodile tears all over the floor of the House, it’s considered humanizing. When Clinton has a moist eye, it’s considered weakness. I’m not a Clinton supporter, and I’m not swayed one way or the other by whether or not she cries. I am, however, pissed off that it was made into some sort of litmus test for whether she’ll be “tough” when it comes to dealing with the problems this country faces, or considered a manipulation when it sure looked like honest emotion to me. We’re all human, even Clinton, and I think that’s a good thing. Let’s not get our panties in a wad over whether someone happens to be human, just like us.
January 9th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Oh, and by the way nonnie, another fantastic job. Spot on, as usual. Keep it coming….
January 9th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
i think it was a matter of people honestly not knowing how they were going to vote until they were actually in the voting booth. i know that i am still undecided. i think the pollsters assumed the undecideds would go for obama, and they were simply wrong.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I think you’re right, nonnie. I’m undecided, too. I have no faith whatsoever in polling data, there are too many variables, including the undecideds like us.
I had a chat on the phone this morning with my fundie dad. His choice when the time comes? McLeibercain. At least it wasn’t Chuckleberry. I have faint hopes of pushing him along to sanity with some “what would Jesus do?” questions, but it’s going to be a long slog. He was convinced I’d be a Hillary supporter, but I told him she’s not my first choice but will have to go there if she wins the nomination. We don’t usually talk much politics, for obvious reasons. But I think that there are a lot of people out there like him who want some real change but are afraid to make a bold step to the left. A little gentle shoving might just do the trick. At least that’s what I tell myself….
January 9th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
i think what happened in new hampster was a good thing. it told the rest of the country that nobody should rely on what the so-called pundits and talking heads and pollsters are saying. it is telling people that their votes just might count after all, and there is not a coronation in the works, but maybe some actual democracy.
from another angle, i think the voters in new hampster told the candidates that enough is enough, no more bullshit, we want the truth, not what your advisers tell you to say. if nothing else, it embarrassed the hell out of tweety, and, for that alone, i am grateful.
January 9th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I think this was a simple case of people claiming one thing to pollsters while doing another thing when it was time to vote. I think most black people are well aware that a black man will not be named president no matter what the media says.
January 9th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
[…] Don’t forget to check out American Street for more parody and general hilarity ! […]
January 9th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
i think obama stands just as good a chance as anyone else. i don’t think people necessarily lied to pollsters. i think pollsters probably got sloppy with the way they worded their questions and made assumptions about people who said they were undecided. there are too many pollsters who are not objective, and they like to skew results in a way most advantageous to the person they are shilling for.
January 9th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
The only poll that counts is the one at the ballot box on election day. Hopefully, voters have more sense than to try to go along with the most popular candidate, rather than to think about their choice.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
alas, recent history does not bode well! oh, hell, maybe they finally learned their lesson.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Democracy, you say? As in ‘We, the People’? Surely you jest…..
January 9th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Is our voters learning? If this seven+ year class of from the Bush Administration hasn’t schooled the electorate maybe, “hopefully”, is the wrong word. At least, the high turn out is encouraging.
January 9th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
the high turnout gives me a glimmer of hope. you know that people were not flooding the polling places to proclaim their approval of chimpy & co..
January 9th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
My thoughts are…mixed. One the one hand, I’d like a recount because I can’t stand Hillary. On the other hand, it’s great to see some enthusiasm and surprises for a change. But, then on the other hand… Oh. Wait.
nonnie, the Sorry, Wrong Number poster is very clever and funny. I was polled once last year. It was skewed so favorably for Clinton that I almost couldn’t believe it! Finally, I hung up, but not before telling the poor kid why…
It took me a minute to recognize the Truman/Dewey photo. You did a bang-up job!
January 9th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
this is actually the second time i have used that movie. chimpy was on the phone the first time.
while i listened to the bloviating idiots admitting that they had everything all wrong, i immediately thought of the truman pic. i wish we could vote those idiots off tv.
January 9th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
john zogby is on the daily show now. let the excuses begin!!!!
January 9th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Oh, yes, nonnie! That was a good one about the young man from Iceland! The little reminder on Chimpy’s finger floored me! HAHAHAHA!
January 9th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Zogby’s an idiot. I’m surprised he admitted it. Now if we could just Tweety to admit the same, I’d think we were finally beginning to make progress in this country….
January 9th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
nightowl, i had to go and look what i used it for before. i forgot until i saw the old one.
gotta, if tweety promised to do that on pay-per-view, it would be the very first time i would ever pay for pay-per-view. and i would record it so i could play it over and over and over again.