When it comes to polls, put me down for skeptic who could easily morph into cynic. There are too many polls, such that they can also become a making-the-news industry. Too many are de facto push polls that get away with not informing the public about all their sampling details and all the contextual ways questions can be asked.
Not coincidentally, this just in: “Nelson No Match For Crist, Poll Shows.”
That was a recent Tampa Bay Times headline. It was prompted by a gubernatorial poll conducted a few weeks back by Fabrizio McLaughlin & Associates. It found that if recent Democratic convert Charlie Crist were to face primary opposition from U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, it would be no contest. Crist, in fact, already has a healthy, double-digit lead.
And who knows, maybe such results help pre-empt Nelson momentum and help assure a Scott-Crist face-off, even if the former governor runs into negative-publicity head winds later next year. And who knows, perhaps the Scott campaign has reason to prefer candidate Crist, whose lead over Scott has been trimmed of late, to Nelson. And who knows, the fact that Fabrizio McLaughlin is Scott’s pollster could be worth noting.