Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Devil in the details on Palin v Murkowski polls

In case Sarah Palin wants to run for Senator Lisa Murkowski's Senate seat in 2010, she'll either get wasted or get high.

Research 2000
released a poll in December, showing Palin with a 24 point lead (SP high).

Dittman Research released a poll for the Alaskan Standard in Jaunary, showing Murkowski with a 27 point lead (SP wasted).

Nate Silver
resolves the two polls by noting Alaska's notoriously difficult polling environment and by calling attention to this bit:

The Alaska Standard is an attractive and engaging blog, but its lead author, talk show host Dan Fagan, is most definitely not a fan of Mrs. Palin. In fact, although Fagan is a staunch conservative, virtually all of his posts, are anti-Palin in some way, most recently regarding some controversy surrounding Levi Johnston.

Fagan very much is a fan, however, of Lisa Murkowski. Not only that, but Murkowski has written an article for this website, and is listed as one of its contributors along the side panel. The pollster, David Dittman, is also listed as a contributor.

So you'll excuse me if I don't find it terribly shocking that when this website decided to conduct a poll, it contained GREAT NEWS!!! FOR LISA MURKOWSKI!!!

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