Public Policy Polling (Dem pollster) shows fear of Ron Paul's strength with independents

[sailingaway]

and doesn't even include Ron in the Pennsylvania poll, including SANTORUM who polls in the background noise range, instead. This despite Ron having gotten 16% in PA in the LAST primaries before his popularity took off, and despite Ron Paul having ties there, having been born there. This follows the trend of their polling in ways that minimize Ron's numbers, after last year conducting a series of polls noting his 'unusual strength with independents'. Did you notice that when they polled Perry as being above Ron in their Texas poll the other day, they only polled Republicans despite it being an open caucus state? And in open primary states, a lot more people stay independent, since it doesn't hurt their ability to vote. That CNN poll showing Ron polling best against Obama, and the year old Rasmussen survey showing Ron at 41% to Obama's 42% seem to really have worried PPP.

h xxp://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_PA_07081205.pdf

[KramerDSP]

There's really no way to counter this, is there? The meme that Ron does best against Obama with the Independents is not beneficial to them, so they have no desire to push that meme.

[specsaregood]

There's really no way to counter this, is there? The meme that Ron does best against Obama with the Independents is not beneficial to them, so they have no desire to push that meme.

Only way I can imagine is to lobby other polling companies to do the polls or pay them to do so.
Since the RP campaign has hired a pollster I would hope they are on top of it.

[parocks]

We got solid polling results out of ppp - texas. vs. Perry we have a very solid electability argument.



and doesn't even include Ron in the Pennsylvania poll, including SANTORUM who polls in the background noise range, instead. This despite Ron having gotten 16% in PA in the LAST primaries before his popularity took off, and despite Ron Paul having ties there, having been born there. This follows the trend of their polling in ways that minimize Ron's numbers, after last year conducting a series of polls noting his 'unusual strength with independents'. Did you notice that when they polled Perry as being above Ron in their Texas poll the other day, they only polled Republicans despite it being an open caucus state? And in open primary states, a lot more people stay independent, since it doesn't hurt their ability to vote. That CNN poll showing Ron polling best against Obama, and the year old Rasmussen survey showing Ron at 41% to Obama's 42% seem to really have worried PPP.

h xxp://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_PA_07081205.pdf

[tsai3904]

They said they will only poll candidates who are above 10% in the primaries against Obama. Cain has polled less than 10% in 4 of the last 5 states (NH, TX, OR and MT). They need to stop polling Cain against Obama or also include Ron Paul, who polled better than Cain in all 4 of those states.

[sailingaway]

Yet they did poll Ron against Obama when they were trying to show Perry's unpopularity in Texas -- they polled Ron against Obama and Perry against Obama....Ron beat Obama by 5 points and was had 7 points above Perry who LOST to Obama in Texas... and for that they polled everyone not just Republicans. But in the accompanying presidential poll, they only poll Republicans despite it being an open primary state. And the result is quite different, since those who DON'T like the 'establishment' of the party have no need to be Republican in Texas, they can be independent and still vote in the primary. And since they don't like the GOP establishment they see no cache to keeping the party name.

[tsai3904]

They poll candidates in their home state against Obama regardless of how they do in the primary. They did that with Gary Johnson in NM, Ron Paul in TX, Santorum in PA, Demint in SC, Haley Barbour in MS, etc.

They have been pretty consistent in their polling. Once Gingrich dropped below 10% in the primaries, they dropped him in their head to head matchup with Obama. I hope they do the same with Cain now. Also, the head to head matchups include Independents.

[sailingaway]

They poll candidates in their home state against Obama regardless of how they do in the primary. They did that with Gary Johnson in NM, Ron Paul in TX, Santorum in PA, Demint in SC, Haley Barbour in MS, etc.

They have been pretty consistent in their polling. Once Gingrich dropped below 10% in the primaries, they dropped him in their head to head matchup with Obama. I hope they do the same with Cain now. Also, the head to head matchups include Independents.

Except that they polled Republicans only in an open primary when their results head to head against Obama last week showed that it made a big difference if all were polled v. if only GOP were polled.

[tsai3904]

In the Pennsylvania head to head against Obama poll, they surveyed 545 Pennsylvania voters broken down as follows:

Democrat 50%
Republican 39%
Independent/Other 11%

Are you referring to the GOP primary polls that they conduct? In those polls, they poll "usual Republican primary voters". Those do include Independents, but they don't break it down by how many.

[realtonygoodwin]

They poll candidates in their home state against Obama regardless of how they do in the primary. They did that with Gary Johnson in NM, Ron Paul in TX, Santorum in PA, Demint in SC, Haley Barbour in MS, etc.

They have been pretty consistent in their polling. Once Gingrich dropped below 10% in the primaries, they dropped him in their head to head matchup with Obama. I hope they do the same with Cain now. Also, the head to head matchups include Independents.

Agreed.

[sailingaway]

In the Pennsylvania head to head against Obama poll, they surveyed 545 Pennsylvania voters broken down as follows:

Democrat 50%
Republican 39%
Independent/Other 11%

Are you referring to the GOP primary polls that they conduct? In those polls, they poll "usual Republican primary voters". Those do include Independents, but they don't break it down by how many.

No, in PA they didn't poll Ron, period. In TEXAS they only polled Republicans even though it is an open primary.