The OpEdNews.com / Zogby People's Poll is the first poll run by a progressive organization and possibly the first poll run by a media website, certainly by a progressive media website.
Zogby International conducted interviews of 850 likely Pennsylvania voters online on January 26th and 27th. The poll consisted of 22 questions related to the PA race for US Senate and a total of over 70 questions, including 27 issue-related questions on impeachment, Bush’s NSA spying and hearings, electronic voting, war in Iraq, withdrawal from Iraq, nationalized health care, privatization of voter registration and election technology and more.
The PA Senate Race: Santorum vs. ?
The poll is the first to ask about all five PA US senate race candidates and provide positions each holds.
When people find out about candidate positions on key issues, Casey plummets from a twelve point lead to a dead heat, with a non-significant two point lead.
Santorum loses when matched with any of the democratic candidates. Both of the self identified progressive democratic candidates draw higher percentages than Casey, with Pennacchio having the largest percentage of votes against Santorum, at a not quite significant 4.4 points higher than Casey. Casey, at non-significant levels, actually gets MORE votes from Republicans once they find out more about him and Santorum. Casey refused to respond, so we constructed his positions from media and speeches. OpEdNews.com's conclusion on this race-- Santorum wants Casey as his opponent because he wins the demographic game. Casey loses massively in some categories, when voters find out about Casey, which Santorum will sure insure. For example, Casy's support among 18-24 year olds drops from 63% to 40%, with Protestants, it drops from 47.3% to 30%, with liberals, from 95.4% to 68%, with moderates, from 64% to 53%, but Casey actually gains support from conservates, going from 3.9% to 5%, a non-significant, but interesting finding.
The poll first asked panelists how they would vote, matching up all five candidates (three Democratic, two Republican) without any information provided to them, then presented them with information on the position the candidates take on a number of issues. All candidates were invited at the same time to participate and given three days to respond. They were told that if they did not respond, then the issue positions would be constructed based on website, media and other statements the candidates made. All candidates responded except Bob Casey, jr., who replied that he would not participate in the poll. OpEdNews.com made one last request by phone and email after the deadline, offering the Casey campaign an opportunity to participate and they stated they were not participating. That same evening, Casey was also a no-show at debate sponsored by the league of women voters in Harrisburg PA.
Stats from the poll regarding the Senate Race. Stats for issue poll questions will be included with articles covering those topics in greater detail over the next few days.
Here is information that was presented to the panelists
Rick Santorum (Republican) On abortion – pro-life On stem cell research – opposed Accepts PAC money – yes War in Iraq – it was the right thing to do Troops in Iraq – stay the course National Health Care – opposed Raising the minimum wage – supports an increase of $1.10 NAFTA/CAFTA – supports CAFTA; opposed NAFTA Alito confirmation to Supreme Court – supports confirmation
Bob Casey, Jr. (Democrat) On abortion – pro-lfe On stem cell research – opposed Accepts PAC money – yes War in Iraq – supported Troops in Iraq – stay the course National Health Care – opposed Raising the minimum wage – supports NAFTA/CAFTA – opposed both Alito confirmation to Supreme Court – supports confirmation
Chuck Pennacchio (Democrat) On abortion – pro-choice On stem cell research – supports Accepts PAC money – no War in Iraq – opposed Troops in Iraq – out as soon as safely possible National Health Care – supports Raising the minimum wage – supports living wage with different levels depending on where the worker lives NAFTA/CAFTA – opposed both Alito confirmation to Supreme Court – supports a filibuster
Alan Sandals (Democrat) On abortion – pro-choice On stem cell research – supports Accepts PAC money – yes War in Iraq – opposed Troops in Iraq – out as soon as safely possible National Health Care – supports Raising the minimum wage – supports NAFTA/CAFTA – opposed both Alito confirmation to Supreme Court – supports a filibuster
John Featherman (Republican) On abortion – pro-choice On stem cell research – supports Accepts PAC money – no War in Iraq – did support, but not since no WMD found Troops in Iraq – out as soon as safely possible National Health Care – opposed Raising the minimum wage – opposed NAFTA/CAFTA – support both Alito confirmation to Supreme Court – supports confirmation
One question that other pollsters seem to be getting very different results on seems to be based on how the question is asked-- did Bush break the law by spying without court approval. Here's how we asked the question and the resulting responses.
Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.
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The results from Pennsylvania are encouraging.It's amazing that the present line-up with all three branches of govt in the hands of the crazies, represnting only 28 percent of Americns is absurd.
If the elective processes can be resolved we can expect some positive changes in 06 and 08.
by
Don Phelps (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 19 comments)
on Saturday, January 28, 2006 at 4:44:23 PM
