Alcon
Atlas Superstar
Posts: 30,867
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« on: January 01, 2015, 09:28:03 PM » |
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This is not a push poll. It's totally true that a push poll can ask the question after the top-line numbers, and avoid polluting that sample, while still being a push poll. However, in that case, taking a regular sample size would be pointless. Polling only 1,043 people and asking about only one line of negative messaging doesn't make a push poll. It's a normal poll with one messaging question.
You could argue they should have been even-handed, and asked a positive question about Clinton, or a negative question about the Republicans, but:
1. When a candidate is ahead in the polls by as much as Clinton is, the question is really whether you can find a message that gets traction against them. They don't really need to test whether Clinton could find traction to get ahead. She is ahead.
2. There are so many viable Republican candidates, finding a single negative message to test would be difficult. They could test a negative message on the Republican Party as a whole, but honestly, I can't think of a good one they could do to test a "silver bullet." I mean, it's not as if there's anti-Republican messaging that people believe would be a silver bullet, but hasn't been used. Benghazi is (wrongly) considered to be that for Clinton, and that's what the poll was testing.
tl;dr: I think this poll is pretty kosher, and I wouldn't call it a "push poll."
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