Dick Morris Pro-Bachmann Bias Shows Twice/Pollsters: “If We Don’t Poll her, She Doesn’t Exist”

The Poll Insider ^ | 6/21/2011 | Poll Insider

[curth]

Update: As I stated earlier today (below), the Zogby poll I saw yesterday that did not include Palin popped up today and showed, SHOCK, that Bachmann “surges” into the lead. As I also pointed, this poll is 100% unscientific as anyone can sign up to participate in the poll and is not a “random” sample. It’s about as valid as a Bill O’Reilly internet poll. Previous leaders have included Herman Cain and Chris Christie. Michele Bachmann had 24% (yeeeaaah) ahead of Romney and Cain’s 15%.

In what is starting to look like a trend, pollsters are now removing Sarah Palin as an option from GOP Primary Polling Data. It happened in last weeks Rasmussen Poll, and now in this weeks polling round-up with the “Morris Poll” and presumably also the upcoming Zogby poll (I have seen the Survey and the copy I saw did not include Palin). But what is odd is that Palin is removed from the polling after she starts seeing a heavy trend upwards and even led Romney in two recent polls by Reuters/Ipsos (Palin 22%- Romney 20%) and Economist/YouGov (Palin 20%- Romney 14%). So it’s actually odd that as she is trending upward, she is suddenly removed.

Typically, pollsters ask a number of scenarios containing a multitude of candidates (including only declared and then some speculative candidates). PPP is usually the best at this. We won’t knock Rasmussen because their poll did only include people who took part in Monday’s debate (and Jon Huntsman, who envisions himself as a dorkier, whiter, slightly more conservative version of Barack Obama).Though since that showed a runaway for Romney, it would be nice to see a secondary poll with other competitors as well.

Meanwhile Dick Morris, who regularly dismisses Palin and pushes Romney and Bachmann, released a poll that featured two sets of questions. One was a straight up poll of contestants already in, and one tested speculative candidates. The only speculative candidate Morris pushes here is Rick Perry, who gets 5% of the vote, while Bachmann comes in THIRD with 12% behind Romney’s 23% and Ron Paul’s 12.4%. (Showing his bias, Morris actually puts Bachmann second in the release, while his data shows that Paul had more votes. Where is the honesty here? ) Either way, Bachmann remained down by double digits.

But more interesting, is that Morris decided to focus on the poll that featured Perry taking a couple of points away from Romney, rather than the poll that only featured in candidates. This is in complete contrast to the last Morris poll on May 25th. Then, Morris also took two polls, one fielding only the current presidential field, and one featuring a speculative candidate: Sarah Palin. The poll featuring Palin, who was the only candidate to get within single digits of Romney in either of the questions, was secondary news. Instead, Morris blasted that Romney was way ahead of the field and focused on the results of the “Candidates who are in” poll, dismissing that Palin was closer than anyone else by a long shot. This time, he doesn’t even mention the “candidates who are in poll” and focuses solely on the poll with Rick Perry included. Well, here are the results of the non-Perry field: Romney: 26% Bachmann: 10% Paul: 6% Cain: 6% Gingrich: 4% Pawlenty: 4% Santorum: 2% Other/DontKnow: 41%

So, Morris did not get the results he wanted, showing a miraculous Bachmann surge so he ignored the results and focused on Rick Perry, who didn’t make a splash. I know he wanted to see a Bachmann surge, because he has been predicting as much regularly on Fox News. Just last week, Morris (while taking a shot at Palin) had this to say about Bachmann, who ha supposedly remained as only 1 of 2 options to challenge Romney down the stretch: “She has Palin’s zest and instinct for a killer zinger but Newt’s knowledge of substance. She combines a flair for the dramatic with some pretty sound political judgment.” Again, isn’t it insulting to continuously compare Bachmann to Palin because they are both women? And is Bachmann really known for zingers? Is “Barack Obama will be a one-term president” really a zinger?

But, alas, Bachmann remains down 16 points in the “candidates who are in” poll, despite her supposed surge, while 41% remain undecided. Unflippinbelievable! I wonder who at least some of those 41% might be interested in voting for!

Finally, the Zogby poll survey I saw, also asked multiple candidate scenarios but, for the first time, none of them included Sarah Palin. This doesn’t really matter, because the Zogby poll is not scientific, by any means. When activists can “volunteer” to be part of a polling sample, it’s not hard to skew the results. But to show the trend, Zogby did not include Palin, but include candidates that have completely ruled out a run like Chris Christie.

My theories:

1) The media is trying to find a frontrunner not named Sarah Palin to take on Romney. The media is always out for the flavor of the week, and Palin/Romney is just too boring for them. They will continue to float trial balloons until the inevitable happens.

2) The media really doesn’t think Palin is running. Okay fine, but why include candidates like Chris Christie and Rick Perry who have either said they are not running or have only tipped their toes into the water? Also, are they blind or just stupid? They really don’t even think there is a remote possibility she is running? Really? Only the media would swear that a guy who has emphatically stated he will not run for President dozens of times is running and someone who has said they are considering it and is touring the nation is not running. Not that I’ve ever accused the media of being too intelligent.

3) The media wants you to ignore Sarah Palin. If they don’t talk about her in polls, she doesn’t exist! Who knows, maybe they are sick of Palin. Oh yeah, that’s it. A media who obsessed over tracking down a non-candidate’s RV for a week and spent half their work force rummaging through her e-mails for dirt is “sick” of her. Unlikely.

One thing is certain: Morris should not be taken seriously by any media organization. It’s actually obscene that he is taken seriously at all as either a pollster or an analyst. The reality is that Morris is pushing two candidates, takes a couple of polls, and filters out whatever information he wants you to see. He deliberately placed Bachmann as second ahead of Ron Paul (who got more votes) so he could presumably go on Radio and TV and talk about how Bachmann “is in second place” to Mitt Romney, just like Rasmussen showed! Surge, surge, surge! So, not only does Morris lift Bachmann ahead of someone with more votes (Paul) but he also chooses the poll where she is down “only” 11% instead of 16%. Or, maybe it’s a coincidence.

[MestaMachine]

I’m thinking that morris wants to hire his nasty butt out to some candidate and he knows Palin will never have him. He might even have approached her or her people about it and was turned down flat.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Given that this is Dick "Toe Sucker" Morris we're talking about, after all... a simpler theory does present itself:

;)

[ejdrapes]

So now Dick Morris is the enemy for the Palin KADs. LOL

[JPG]

I agree with you. Morris used to talk very positively about Sarah Palin and almost at once he kind of kissed her off and has become very dismissive of her if he even mentions her at all. Sarah who? Oh, she's not running, etc. If Sarah does run, the looks on the faces of Morris, Krauthammer, Kristol, Hume and on and on will be priceless.

[RetSignman]

If I can’t suck her toes, she doesn’t exist.

[GoCards]

She hasnt announced yet!!! When she does, if she does the polls will be crazy!!!!! Im hoping, we’ll see

[rob777]

"As I stated earlier today (below), the Zogby poll I saw yesterday that did not include Palin ..."


It did not include any candidate who is not in the race. If it did and still excluded Palin, I could see the point in this rant. As it is, the article comes off as pleading for a special dispensation for Palin rather than merely fair treatment.

[ansel12]

It looks like you are striving to set a Palin versus Bachmann war here at freerepublic.

[webheart]

It looks like you are striving to set a Palin versus Bachmann war here at freerepublic

FreeRepublic is far from monolithic, and not everyone who posts here is friendly. Just check out the first post when it says "in before the" and fill in the blank for whatever they are in before.

[ansel12]

That poster is unique because he is also unofficially the biggest Bachmann booster here, and posting more threads on her than anyone. It doesn’t seem like he would want to also troll against Palin at the same time.

He seems to be using Bachmann’s, Rollins/Romney strategy of attacking Palin, who is Romney’s only real threat.

At the least he is pushing a war of sometype by being both her recognized chief promoter, and a chief anti-Palin troll at the same time.

[Political Junkie Too]

The pollsters and others have gotten word on the downlow that Palin will sit it out.

I've read so many "...who wished to remain anonymous due to discussing the unauthorized internal strategy on..." that I can't believe that a news organization would get a story like that and obligingly sit quiet on it.

I think they'd be stampeding over themselves to be the first to report it.

-PJ

[higgmeister]

I've read so many "...who wished to remain anonymous due to discussing the unauthorized internal strategy on..." that I can't believe that a news organization would get a story like that and obligingly sit quiet on it. I think they'd be stampeding over themselves to be the first to report it. -PJ

Agreed.

Additionally, the original article is just falderal for proposing a "MSM" poll jacking conspiracy. In seriousness, what is a poll after all?

Sarah Palin leads the MSM around by the ear and they can only respond with crazed tears and baleful shrieks.