Quinnipiac Pollster Advocates for McCain

I know pollsters often contribute to stories but it seems like a conflict of interest to me that a pollster would actually write a blog for the Wall Street Journal, advocating on behalf of McCain.

Doesn't that pollute your sample? This confirms my belief that the only purpose of the polls right now is to influence the election, not reflect what voters are thinking.

The media has bought into this idea that Obama is even with McCain because of the polls. No way. No how. Have you noticed the polls all follow each other like a pack of dogs. Come September, the pollster pack will have to start doing their job correctly.

WSJ: Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, specializes in polling of electoral battleground states, including Ohio and Florida.

The conventional wisdom is that $4 gasoline raises the odds that Sen. Barack Obama will become the nation’s next president.

This may well turn out to be the case, since history suggests an ailing economy, in this case hurt by high energy prices, works to the advantage of the political party that does not hold the White House.

Yet, the American people are undergoing a change of opinion when it comes to all things energy that might actually provide a useful campaign opportunity for Sen. John McCain.

Simply put, this transformation offers the Republican presidential nominee a potential vehicle to turn around his largest problem – voters don’t think he can resurrect the nation’s slumping economy.

This pollster doesn't mention that McCain CANNOT lower gas prices with offshore drilling.
Here's more:

To be clear, the surveys found that Americans would still prefer that future energy needs be met by development of alternative energy sources such as solar, wind or biomass. They want the government to mandate better car mileage and also say they favor more conservation over more exploration.

However, what has changed is that high energy prices have apparently driven home the argument that the pro-drilling and nuclear power folks have been making for years: That renewable, alternative energy sources are decades from being able to significantly cut America’s need for fossil fuels. And the only way to bring down the high prices and avoid sending billions of dollars daily overseas is to increase domestic production of oil and natural gas.

Interestingly, the public’s support for drilling appears to override its distaste for President George W. Bush. While only roughly a quarter of Americans approve of the president’s job performance, strong majorities agree with him that Congress needs to follow his decision to allow drilling in previously closed offshore oil fields.

A funny blog poking fun at pollsters.

Polls Say McCain Gains Ground

I don't believe it for a second. 

There is no possible way McCain and Obama could be even. There must be something funky going on with the polling. 

Remember, these polls intend to influence just as much as reflect.
There are a few pollsters with an anti-Obama bias. You can tell when you read the text that accompanies the polls. There are also polls with misleading questions. 

I would argue, that right now, the pollster's purpose is to influence the election. The pollsters will get serious in their sampling after the convention. Then it will be apparent that Obama is leading by a LOT. 

I only post the good polls, like the one that says Obama is leading big among Latinos, the voters that all the Hillaries said Obama would never get.

Pundits on the Polls

All the Meet the Press roundtable agreed the polls are meaningless until after Labor day. They've been crazy extreme. 

There's just no way the race is that close between Obama and McCain. No way. McCain's campaign has been one bumble after the other. 

The panel makes it clear Hillary will not be vice president. 

Next week on Meet the Press: Al Gore.

Congress Needs to Shut Bush Down on Drilling

George Bush is once again showing his incompetence and trying to make up for his lack of vision by drilling for oil in places that should not be drilled. Even republican Arnold Schwarzenegger says Bush-McCain are blowing smoke. Drilling offshore will NOT lower gas prices but many Americans have fallen for that bunk. 

CNN: Bush met with his senior economic advisers at the Energy Department to discuss soaring prices for gasoline and crude oil. Bush said one answer is to increase supply in this country by tapping "the vast potential" of crude oil reserves on offshore lands and in Alaska as well as in oil shale in the western part of the United States.

With gasoline prices above $4 a gallon, Bush and his Republican allies think American's reluctance to drill in pristine waters and lands is diminishing and that there is an opportunity for oil companies to move into areas that have been off limits.

"And yet the Democratic leaders of Congress have consistently blocked opening up these lands for exploration," the president said. He said that technology has changed dramatically and that oil can be recovered in a way that protects the environment.