CBS is Now Cooking Swing State Polls

Warning: The first part of this post includes large quantities of sarcasm.

According to a CBS/New York Times poll of Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. IT'S OVER. Obama has opened up a huge lead in the poll. Governor Mitt Romney should just give up now, because it's just a waste of time.

The results are these:

Florida: Obama 53%, Romney 44% (Obama +9%)

Ohio: Obama 53%, Romney 43% (Obama +10%)

Pennsylvania: Obama 54%, Romney 42% (Obama +12%)

It is OVER. Right? Come on. Obama's doing GREAT in those three critical states!

What? You want me to look past Page One? You want the poll sample? Okay, let's look at that:

Florida:  Democrat 36%, Republican 27%, Independent 33% (Democrat +9%)

Ohio: Democrat 35%, Republican 26%, Independent 35% (Democrat +9%)

Pennsylvania: Democrat 39%, Republican 29%, Independent 27% (Democrat +10%)

WHOA! That doesn't sound right, does it? I mean, surely there must be data from the last Presidential elections, right? Oh wait, there is:

Florida Turnout: 2008 - Democrat +3 - 2004 - Republican +4% - 2000 - Democrat +2%.

(Note: NEVER near a 9% Democrat advantage.)

Ohio Turnout: 2008 - Democrat +8% - 2004 Republican +5% - 2000 Democrat +1%

(Note: not a 9% turnout even in the Democrat sweep in '08.)

(Could not locate Pennsylvania data).

Now here's some cold water for you Democrats, as if basic math doesn't do it. If Obama has such a commanding lead in these states, why campaign there? Please, explain. I mean, Obama has a commanding lead in New York, and I don't see him campaigning there.

Bottom line is Obama is in real trouble. The Drive-By Media wouldn't be using these preposterous samples if he wasn't. The only plausible explanation is an attempt to suppress and repress Republican votes to make Obama's chances better. Because here in the Real World, they just aren't that good.

Another Cooked Poll: 3 Swing State Poll with Stacked Sample

Well friends, it's becoming almost comical how frequently the Drive-By Media keeps giving us cooked polls. This one's about a week old, but with so much going on, I haven't had time to delve into it. But today campers, we're going to be doing just that.

The perpetrator this time is a CBS/New York Times/Quinnipiac Poll of three critical swing states: Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin. One problem that presents right at the start is that it's essentially three polls in one and it only has about 1200 "likely voters" in the poll. If you figure that it's only 400-500 individuals per state, that makes the margin of error ridiculous. The poll claims the following:

                           Obama                            Romney                                    Result

Florida                  49%                                46%                                     Obama +3%

Ohio                     50%                                44%                                     Obama +6%

Wisconsin             49%                                 47%                                     Obama +2%

So all three are pretty close. However, all three polls have oversampled Democrats significantly, especially for a poll of Likely Voters, not Registered Voters. As we've discussed time and time again, Republican voters are more reliable to the tune of about a 2-4% swing in the GOP's favor whenever the poll goes from Registered to Likely voters.

We're going to be a little imprecise due to lack of data on what the samples OUGHT to be, because the best I can find in those three states are statistics of their party registration. We'll then use a conservative estimate from that registration sample of +2% to the Republicans to account for likely voters.


                   Democrat             Republican           Advantage             Adjusted Advantage with Likely Voters

Florida           41%                     36%                   D +5%                                   D +3%

Ohio               36%                    37%                   R +1%                                    R +3%

Wisconsin       38%                     34%                  D +4%                                    D +2%

So friends that's our baseline. Florida with a Democrat +3% Advantage, Ohio with a Republican +3% advantage and Wisconsin with a +2% advantage. We can expect likely a bigger swing in favor of the GOP considering, at least nationally, given that when Independent leaners are added into party registration you end up with an even split.

So let's look at what the Poll used as THEIR party sample:

                   Democrat             Republican           Advantage              OVERSAMPLE vs. Baseline                                                                                                                      (Without Baseline Adjustment)

Florida           34%                     28%                   D + 6%                            D +3%   (D +1%)

Ohio               34%                    26%                   R +1%                              D +11% (D +9%)

Wisconsin       32%                    28%                   D +4%                              D +4%  (D +2%)

The most ridiculous is Ohio, that oversampled Democrats by 11% against our Likely Voter baseline! Even if we don't use our baselines, there's still a 9% oversample of Democrats! That's just plain ridiculous! The rest of the oversamples happen to be JUST ENOUGH to turn the polls in Obama's favor.

So let's go right ahead and adjust that poll, considering that if we added the proper number of Republicans back into the poll, and presuming (and this is a conservative estimate) that 3/4 of Republicans will vote for Governor Romney, shall we:

                          Obama                           Romney                                  Result (vs. Cooked Poll Result)

Florida                  47%                               48%                                     Romney +1% (Obama +3%)

Ohio                     43%                                51%                                    Romney +8% (Obama +6%)

Wisconsin             46%                                50%                                    Romney +4% (Obama +2%)

Now isn't THAT interesting? When you remove the party biases and oversampling of Democrats, now all of a sudden, shock of shocks, Instead of winning these three crucial swing states, now Obama is LOSING these three states! Amazing!

Friends, this exercise we've just performed is by no means intended to be scientific. However, I believe it does do a fair job showing the difference in the Drive-By Media's outcomes with completely cooked samples vs. honest samples based on voter registration and voter probability.

Rest assured on this final note, my friends: The Drive-By Media wants you to think Obama is winning. As we have continued to show you in poll after poll, the facts simply do not show it to be true when looking at a real electorate and not a fantasy electorate that come from the mind of a liberal news manager's imagination.

I leave you with this final thought, from the classic baseball movie "A League of Their Own":