Slow learner?

SurveyUSA is still not including the (likely) top Republican fundraiser in their polls. Is it just to be different? Might I suggest a body piercing instead?

Lingering bias -- death by a thousand cuts?

It's hard not to see when you're attuned (some might say hypersensitive) to it.

A fresh example: would you know that Ron Paul polled the same as Mitt Romney in the latest Quinnipiac poll in New York from looking at RealClearPolitics here or here? But, he did:

"...and 5 percent each for Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today." [12/17/07]

(It's also worth noting that Paul's 5% is up from 1% in October, whereas Romney's is down from 7%.)

Yet how many other sites and news anchors will cite RealClearPolitics and, like them, leave out Ron Paul's tie with a "top tier" candidate (albeit near the bottom of the crowd, but above Tancredo and Duncan)? What is the cumulative effect of a thousand such slights?

Clumped in Carolina

South Carolina, that is...




Numbers for this chart are taken from CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll (reported here).

Poll w/o Paul

A pollster (SurveyUSA*) that is still not including Ron Paul by name in polls?! Others somehow manage to include him (note uptrend). Survey says "X."

* "...an independent, non-partisan, full-service opinion polling firm." Okay, but...well, at least they're not including Tancredo instead.