OH-PPP: Obama 51%, Romney 46%

[pbrower2a]

PPP is a push poll. I've been reading their polls for the last couple of months and they always have liberal biased questions in there,  and a lot of their samples are way out there, this is a better one for them.  Overall result you can pretty much count on them being off 3-4 points in Obama's favor.

I visited here last election and have been reading this fall, haven't wanted to post til recently, useless arguing with most of you on here.  Amusing how you discount sample arguments because it would upset your view of the race.  If the samples in a poll show a turnout that is greater than 08 or unlikely race breakdowns, you guys just think oh well that's swell must be so.    

These are the first three questions asked (except that Q3 obviously implies an earlier split between those who have already voted and those who have yet to vote). But all in all the potentially-leading questions come much later:

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A push poll supplies a potentially derogatory question that might alter a respondent's answer. The prime example was the question during the 2000 Republican Convention of whether one would vote for a nominee with a black baby -- like John McCain.

Truth is, the child wasn't really black (adopted in Calcutta) and there was no sordid sex life of Senator John McCain... but just think of the implications. That poll wrecked John McCain as a candidate due to the insinuations of 'disgraceful' behavior.

A push poll directed against President Obama might be worded "In view of unemployment higher than it was in 2006 and bloated deficits, would you vote for Barack Hussein Obama or for Mitt Romney?" One directed against Mitt Romney might be worded, "In view of the need for steady leadership in foreign policy would you vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?"

Pollsters do not exist to create the narrative; they exist ideally to give an honest chronicle of public opinion.  

[pbrower2a]

PPP is run by Democrats. They don't try to hide that fact. They're employed to conduct private polls by many Democratic campaigns and left-leaning organizations. But their polls are historically reliable and accurate. And asking questions like you're objecting to after they've asked all the horse race and favorability questions doesn't impact the quality of the poll at all. PPP has always put funny questions on the end of their polls. They often ask which sports team the respondent supports and stuff like that. But as long as all of that is after the main questions, it does not impact the quality of the poll at all.

Yes -- and even the funky questions such as sports allegiance have their intended purposes. If some politician or public figure has an approval rating in the teens, then maybe one can calibrate the level of contempt by asking what people think of ... let's say flies or Fidel Castro. Significantly the questions of sports allegiance say much about the origins of voters. People in North Carolina who are fans of the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies, or San Francisco Giants almost certainly did not grow up in North Carolina. Such people would be from "d@mnyankee" country and likely to carry other cultural values with them. In 2008 I found it shocking that North Carolina, home of the trogdolytic pol Jesse Helms  could vote for Barack Obama while other firm Southern States were rejecting President Obama by huge numbers. But as in Florida and Virginia, many of the voters were d@mnyankees who have comparatively liberal attitudes on religion, sex, and economics.