newsobserver.com projects - Going head-to-head in governor's race - Comments

Re: Going head-to-head in governor's race

cal — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:53:43 -0500

...not a bad comeback.

Re: Going head-to-head in governor's race

packpat1 — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:18:18 -0500

Re: Going head-to-head in governor's race

phs02tj — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:32:33 -0500

Packpat1 and Alterac evidently know virtually nothing about polling.

Polls are weighted to reflect the partisan distribution of the sample that is being polled. More people in North Carolina identify themselves as Democrats than Republicans, particularly in the current political climate, so more people we poll identify themselves as Democrats. Our distribution was 47-38 in this poll. In the poll that the right leaning Civitas Institute released today, the party distribution was even more Democratic - 49-38.

By your logic that we should have polled an equal number of Democrats and Republicans to be 'fair' then when people poll a heavily Republican state like South Carolina or a heavily Democratic state like Massachusetts you would get incredibly inaccurate results. When you do a poll your sample needs to reflect the political leanings of the state's voters to the greatest extent possible.

Also, Packpat 1, a simple google search reveals that you are the nephew of one of the candidates for Governor. I think if you are going to shill for him here you should be transparent about that.

Tom Jensen

Re: Going head-to-head in governor's race

really — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:25:52 -0500

perhaps we should simply poll likely primary voters who are registered unaffiliated...

Jensen is Wrong

alterac — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:26:12 -0500

Why would anyone take a poll seriously if it purposely polls more Dems than Republicans. Of course it will have the Dem candidate winning. Jensen needs to reevaluate his polling system. For once I agree with Moore when he attacked PPP

Going head-to-head in governor's race

bkrueger — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:36:17 -0500

The latest numbers from Public Policy Polling gives the Democrats a big edge over the Republicans in the governor's race.

The Democratic polling firm asked 809 likely general election voters about possible match-ups in the governor's race. In every instance, Democrats came out on top. The numbers:

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Richard Moore, 41 percent; Pat McCrory, 36 percent

Beverly Perdue, 41 percent; McCrory, 39 percent

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Moore, 37 percent; Bill Graham, 30 percent

Perdue, 43 percent; Graham, 34 percent

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Moore, 40 percent; Bob Orr, 26 percent

Perdue, 43 percent; Orr, 30 percent

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Moore, 44 percent; Fred Smith, 27 percent

Perdue, 43 percent; Smith, 30 percent

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PPP's Tom Jensen writes that "the big winner here is Richard Moore. Not only does he now lead all four Republicans after trailing Bill Graham and Pat McCrory last month, but he also leads most of them by a greater margin than Bev Perdue does."