Latest NYTimes/CBS Presidential poll
Is the media trying to manufacture a horse race? Powerline digs a little deeper into the latest NYTimes/CBS News poll on the presidential race and notes a shift in the percentage of Dems and Republicans polled:
The poll’s internals are easily accessible–which is praiseworthy–so it takes only a moment to determine that the October poll sampled 34% Democrats and 29% Republicans, while the September poll sampled 33% Republicans and 31% Democrats. So it’s hardly a surprise that Kerry did better in the October survey. If the pollsters sampled only Democrats, they could show that Kerry was sweeping toward an unprecedented victory.
We aren’t going to be able to untangle the pros and cons of “correcting” samples between now and November; suffice it to say, however, that 4% of the population didn’t abandon the Republican party for the Democrats over the last 30 days.
Please read the whole thing.