Why is a polling company criticizing Jim Neal?

Submitted by Kosh on

Update: Answered my own pondering from below. PPP is running a poll on the Neal-Hagan race (and I assume being paid for it, so it would be nice to know who the client is). So, my observation stands. It is, in my opinion, highly improper and unethical for a polling firm to engage in partisan commentary on its official blog. If these folks want to start their own blogs, under their own names and state their opinions, that's cool. But to criticize a candidate in a contest you are conducting a poll about on the company web site, pretty much destroys the value of your poll. It certainly makes me wonder about the accuracy of the poll, as it shows Hagan ahead of Neal by 11 points, whereas the SUSA poll from last week Had Neal ahead of Hagan by 3. SUSA, to my knowledge, doesn't offer critical comments on the subjects of its polls.

I caught this little tidbit on the blog for Public Policy Polling:

Jim Neal violated that axiom last week by putting out a press release that not only called on Kay Hagan to debate but also said that 'Chairwoman Hagan thinks this campaign is about calling in favors from high-dollar Capitol insiders to pay for carpet bombing the state with poll-tested political ads.'

If someone sent me an 'invitation' like that, it would go right in the recycling bin.

The post is written by Tom Jensen, who is PPP's communications director. While Mr. Jensen is certainly as free to offer his opinion about the race, as I, or any other citizen is, I have to question why the officer of a polling firm is doing so on the company's official blog? After all, a polling firm is about measuring people's opinion's on various matters, and it seems to violate the fundamentals to be offering your own opinion on political races.

I guess it would be OK if PPP has no intention of taking clients for the Neal-Hagan race, but if they have worked on such a poll, are conducting such a poll or plan on being paid to conduct such a poll in the future, this would be a serious ethical breach.

Perhaps some professional pollster can enlighten me?

Also, since when do polling companies have a say in debate formats?

Comments

Someone from the Neal campaign

Submitted by Betsy Muse on

went negative. If it had been from Moore's (or even Perdue's) campaign some folks here would have been all over it. The Neal campaign went negative at the same time calling Hagan to debate. I happen to agree with Tom Jensen. That's not an invitation to debate, it's a childish challenge.

I was very disappointed in the Neal campaign after this latest mess they started in the press. I'll still vote for him at this point, but his campaign sure has taken a "politics as usual" turn lately.

PPP has been right fairly frequently with their polls.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.



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Vote Democratic! The ass you save may be your own.

I'm made no bones about the fact that I don't like the

Submitted by Betsy Muse on

way the Moore campaign has been run and I still plan to vote for him. At least I'm consistent.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.



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Vote Democratic! The ass you save may be your own.

And bless you for it.

Submitted by James on

I had the same sinking feeling when the debate debate started up. Reminded me of Jay Reiff.

That said, the PPP blog runs at least some risk of undermining the position of their polling business. I read it regularly, and have a hard time figuring out why Jensen decided to be Miss Manners in this instance.

don't ya hate it?

Submitted by Brunette on

I have the same problem. I'm disappointed with his campaign, too, but I have to vote for the guy anyway.

I've been a lifelong Democrat, proudly so, but am so disappointed with the Democrats at the state level these past few years that I cannot bring myself to feel the old passion about the governor's race -- or even how many seats we gain or lose in the General Assembly. It's a terrible feeling.

Of course, it will feel pretty awful if the GOP cleans up, but I can see it happening. I doubt I'm the only person who feels this way about the good ole boys club that has been running things for so long.

I'm sufficiently discouraged that I'm not sure I could bring myself to vote for Perdue if she prevailed in the primary.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing
-Edmund Burke

I do....

Submitted by Betsy Muse on

Actually, many folks here have ranted against the good ole boys club. The fact that Bev Perdue can hang with the good ole boys was a big reason I chose to not support her.



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Vote Democratic! The ass you save may be your own.

Nothing wrong with that.

Submitted by Robert P. on

I agree that there should be consistency. It's a hard thing for candidate supporters to do, trust me, I'm a recovering candidate supporter!!!!

I have to say I'm amazed at just how little I've come to care about candidate diaries or candidate battles other than for Dan Besse. He is the only candidate out there that is really stirring my interest.

One of the pitfalls of childhood is that one doesn't have to understand something to feel it. - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me

I guess it depends on your definition of negative

Submitted by Kosh on

Is what Neal's camp is claiming untrue? Is it negative to call Hagan on her support for Telco immunity?

I have seen some name-calling that I disapprove of and am making my opinion know. But so far, Hagan has ducked debates and refused to appear with Neal and take questions. I am greatly suspicious of such a person

PPP may be accurate, but they do themselves no favor by commenting on the people they are polling about. THAT is the point of my post.

Liberalism as a badge of honor! No excuses, no apologies.

Liberalism as a badge of honor!
No apologies, no excuses.

It wasn't the immunity business

Submitted by Betsy Muse on

It was just ticky tacky stuff. I don't know. It just seemed beneath Jim Neal.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.



***************************
Vote Democratic! The ass you save may be your own.

High Noon by the Polling company and the Hagan Campaign?

Submitted by MaxTheDog2 on

The Neal campaign went negative at the same time calling Hagan to debate. I happen to agree with Tom Jensen. That's not an invitation to debate, it's a childish challenge.* BM

It's like a gunfight! One calls out the bad guy to step forward into the street or get out of Dodge! Another example of democracy going south by the Hagan campaign and the polling company.

Wow!

Submitted by Tom Jensen on

I guess you never know what will break out when you go to a meeting for a couple hours.

PPP is a company that both conducts polls and analyzes politics. Our President Dean Debnam and I are frequently asked to provide commentary about what's going on in North Carolina races for radio, tv, and newspaper races. Our blog is part of that effort to provide analysis of what's going on in the state.

We're not affiliated with any campaign in the Senate race or the Governor's race or the Presidential race and anybody who's actually read the blog regularly would know that we've been both complementary and critical of most candidates in the state from time to time. A Neal supporter is pissed at this post, and I know the Hagan folks have been mad about stuff we've written too. Same with Moore and Perdue, same with Obama supporters and Clinton supporters.

I want the Democratic nominee to beat Elizabeth Dole this fall. So I'm annoyed when the Democratic candidates attack each other instead of focusing on the big picture. That was the reason for this post.

PPP had the most accurate numbers in the country in South Carolina, the most accurate in Wisconsin, and the most accurate combined numbers for any company that did both Ohio and Texas. We're going to keep producing really accurate polls and we're going to keep talking about what Democrats need to do to win this fall. As with any political organization, if we don't ruffle a few feathers along the way we're probably not doing our job.

As a Neal supporter,

Submitted by scharrison on

a comment like that is bound to rustle my feathers a little bit. For one thing, it gives the Hagan camp one more reference/link/excuse for not debating.

But...I'm inclined to give you guys the benefit of the doubt, since everybody (at one time or another) has had a problem with your results. For me, that translates to "objectivity" and solid numbers.

Sorry, I don't buy it

Submitted by Kosh on

You run a polling firm. Your stock and trade is opinion. Opinion can be influenced, and when the polling firm itself is advocating for, or against, any candidate it covers, this is improper.

To use the excuse "well both sides get mad at us, so we must be ok" is lame when offered by the press as an excuse for failing to do their job, and is lame here.

We would not be having this conversation if you had posted this on your personal blog. Instead of making it an official statement of your company.

I would also be making this same comment if you had done this with Hagan.

The argument that Dems need to just play together nice and sing camp songs is naive in the extreme. This is the VERY conduct preached by the DLC and it has lost us quite a few elections. One of the reasons I oppose Hagan is that she has this very same views.

Are you a polling firm or a political consulting firm? Pick one, you can't be both and remain credible.

Liberalism as a badge of honor! No excuses, no apologies.

Liberalism as a badge of honor!
No apologies, no excuses.

As long as their polling results are accurate

Submitted by Betsy Muse on

They will remain credible. That's the long and short of it. You might not like it, but I think PPP has spent a good deal of time over the past several years establishing their credibility. They have been right far more often than they have been wrong. As long as that continues, their rep as a polling firm remains high. The do risk alienating people who might otherwise choose them as clients, but it doesn't (in my mind) call into question the results of their polling.



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Vote Democratic! The ass you save may be your own.

There numbers may be accurate

Submitted by Kosh on

but it is still improper for a polling company to engage in partisan commentary about people they are polling about.

Certainly just my opinion. But there you are.

Liberalism as a badge of honor! No excuses, no apologies.

Liberalism as a badge of honor!
No apologies, no excuses.

Maybe...

Submitted by Branden on

Maybe PPP is run by Morden. Aren't you guys natural enemies?

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relocating from Indianapolis, IN to RTP, NC soon; got any advice for me?

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Garner, NC

I wouldn't recommend drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me. -- Hunter S. Thompson

Dear Kosh

Submitted by gregflynn on

Please consider removing the large linkable banner image from the signature line which already has text linking to your blog.

It's amounting to spam when it appears multiple times in a thread and especially so as the destination site does not link to or contain any reference to BlueNC.

or at least make it smaller

Submitted by Betsy Muse on



Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.



***************************
Vote Democratic! The ass you save may be your own.

Works for me

Submitted by Betsy Muse on

....and I didn't think you were spamming.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.



***************************
Vote Democratic! The ass you save may be your own.