Friday, July 14, 2006

AP/Ipsos poll: Americans want Dems to win

From the AP:
Republicans are in jeopardy of losing their grip on Congress in November. With less than four months to the midterm elections, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold the GOP-controlled Congress in low regard and profess a desire to see Democrats wrest control after a dozen years of Republican rule.

Further complicating the GOP outlook to turn things around is a solid percentage of liberals, moderates and even conservatives who say they’ll vote Democratic. The party out of power also holds the edge among persuadable voters, a prospect that doesn’t bode well for the Republicans…

The AP-Ipsos survey asked 789 registered voters if the election for the House were held today, would they vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate in their district. Democrats were favored 51 percent to 40 percent
Wow...that's bad news, huh? There's just one problem with that result: it's highly flawed. Sweetness & Light breaks it down:

That’s a 12% advantage to the Democrats.

So a group of people comprised of 12% more Democrats than Republicans was asked who should run Congress. And they answered Democrats by a 11% advantage.

That actually sounds like a 1% win for the GOP.

As we have noted before, the Associated Press always polls more Democrats than Republicans at the 12% clip. The AP then uses their bogus results to drive the news.
S&L has an archives section with other AP/Ipsos "polls", and as luck would have it, there's a leftwards tilt in 100% of the "poll" results. As S&L says:
Bias? What bias?

The Associated Press is just reporting what 12% more Democrats randomly selected people tell them.

It’s scientific.
Anyway, I noticed a couple of glaring discrepancies with the poll, aside from the usual oversampling of Democrats:

1. Liberal math at its finest! Look at their Republican breakdown: 17% strong, 25% moderate...for a total of 41% Republican? I DID go to FSU, but I could have sworn we were taught that 17 + 25 = 42!

2. They didn't poll likely voters, but registered voters. They do the same thing every election year, and the registered voters "ironically" show a propensity to vote Democrat. Interestingly, these folks don't show up at the polls (especially during midterm elections), further confounding the "pollsters" (though obviously not enough to change their polling approach).

3. The sample was smaller than Dick Durbin's regard for the troops. Then again, when you have your sample of Democrats, why sample anymore? As the old cliché says, "Once you strike oil, stop drilling!"

4. Finally, do the pollsters plan on taking a district-by-district poll for House races, or a state-by-state poll for Senate races? THAT would be more accurate, especially since many Americans hate Congress, but like their OWN Congressman/Congresswoman/Senator.

The GOP is definitely in trouble this November, and could very well lose. However, would it behoove the pollsters to be a little scientific and honest for once?