McLaughlin & Associates Publishes Lamest Poll Ever?

You'd think that a consulting firm, no matter how much it needs the clients (and their $$$), wouldn't want to completely trash its reputation over one poll for one client in one race. Yet, if there's any justice in the world, that's exactly what McLaughlin & Associates may have done with its Keith Fimian poll.

I'm not so much concerned with the top-line number, which has Keith Fimian ahead of Gerry Connolly 40%-35%, although that's not particularly plausible. What really blows my mind is that McLaughlin & Associates thinks we're all stupid enough to believe that Virginia's 11th CD is far more conservative than the country as a whole. To quote McLaughlin & Associates, "On the generic ballot for U.S. Congress, the Republican candidate has a 19 point advantage over the Democrat candidate (52% to 33%)." Hahahahahahahahahaha.

OK, now back to reality, which is that the national "generic" Congressional ballot is tied between Republicans and Democrats right now, at 43% a piece. Which means McLaughlin & Associates wants us to believe that Virginia's 11th CD - where Democrats just won a couple of special election victories (Marsden, Filler-Corn), and where Democrats Tim Kaine, Jim Webb, Barack Obama, Gerry Connolly, Sharon Bulova, etc., etc. all won in recent years - is 19 points more Republican leaning than the rest of America.

To the contrary, it's likely that VA-11 is similar to the rest of the country or significantly more Democratic, meaning that the supposed 40%-35% margin for Keith Fimian over Gerry Connolly is more likely a 10-15 point lead for Connolly. But hey, if Republicans want to believe this garbage, more power to 'em. I only hope they start using McLaughlin & Associates for all their candidates this year! :)

P.S. By the way, I love use, in a polling memo, of the juvenile pseudo-epithet "Democrat candidate," as opposed to the grammatically correct "Democratic candidate." Very professional, guys! LOL

h/t: Good catch by Not Larry Sabato

Faux News Poll On Tea Party Doesn't Turn Out How They Wanted

Something tells me that these aren't the results Faux "News" hoped to get when it ran this poll: 265,533 votes, out of which 83% said that the Tea Party movement is a "Fruitless mix of racism, conspiracy theories," and just 12% said it's about "Small government and fiscal responsibility." Ha. Well, I guess Faux reports and we...uh, deride?

Mason-Dixon: Bolling Leads by 13, Cooch by 7; Many Undecided

According to Mason-Dixon, Republicans are leading in both the Lieutenant Governor's and Attorney General's races, but with high percentages undecided and/or unfamiliar with the candidates.

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who is seeking re-election, led Democrat Jody Wagner 44 percent to 31 percent, with 25 percent undecided, in the survey conducted Tuesday to Thursday by Mason Dixon Polling & Research Inc.

In the contest for attorney general, state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, led Del. Steve Shannon, D-Fairfax, 37 percent to 30 percent, but 33 percent were undecided.

The large percentage of uncommitted voters reflects that the electorate, which is focused on the gubernatorial contest, has paid less attention to the down-ticket races.

It doesn't look great, but the hope for Democrats is that the high percentages of voters not familiar with the LG or AG candidate will break for Wagner and/or Shannon in the end. We'll see...