Last week I discovered an interesting new blog devoted to political polling called Crosstabs.org. Actually, Crosstabs.org is something of a blog within a blog, a site nestled within the conservative site RedState.comorg. It combines frequent posts from blogger Gerry Daly — who used to blog at his own site, Dalythoughts, and comment from time to time here on MP — with an interesting twist. The new site will include occasional contributions from five Republican campaign pollsters: Robert Moran of Strategy One, Bob Ward of Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates, Brent McGoldrick of Grassroots Targeting, Bill Cullo of Qorvis Communications and Rob Autry of Public Opinion Strategies.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then MP certainly welcomes the presence of more professional pollsters into the blogosphere, regardless of their political perusasion. When it comes to methodology, we all do things a bit differently, and readers will benefit from having more perspectives online. Take the issue of the "incumbent rule," for example. In their first week, the pollsters at Crosstabs.org have posted some thoughts worth reviewing here, here and here.
Now, obviously, Crosstabs.org will handicap polls from a conservative perspective (just as Dalythoughts did during the 2004 cycle). Chris Bowers and his colleagues at MyDD and Ruy Teixeira at Donkey Rising have long done the same from the liberal side of the blogosphere. And while I try to keep the handicapping and commentary as neutral here as I can, there is no doubt that I am a Democratic campaign pollster. So a little balance is not a bad thing.
Welcome to the neighborhood Crosstabs.org!
I’m going to have to strongly disagree about this. We’re in a battle here for the control of Congress against a party of corruption. The future of the nation is at stake. We shouldn’t be giving conservative websites this kind of free exposure. I know you want to try and be balanced. But you can be balanced yourself without directing traffic to the sites of people on the other side.
Red State is one of the most extremist conservative sites on the internet, and you are giving them credence and credibility by linking to them. Very disappointing and a bit disturbing that you would do this, especially in an election year. They do fundraising there, you know, and more hits = more dollars.
Aaron, In general I haven’t made political comments in this forum, but I would like to address this. I think its important that people hear all viewpoints so they can realize how extreme some of them are and what effect they are having on our political process. Please give folks some credit–if Red State is biased or extreme, people will be able to figure that out. In fact, I think that is one of the reasons our country is now turning away from the neo-conservatism, anti-science fundamentalism, the “trickle down theory”, etc. Been there, tried that, now we are ready for something that might work.
I see Aaron (no doubt after much study) has his Dem talking points memorized. Nice to see people who can “think for themselves”…after getting their instructions by e-mail.
And I see Alan, the “unbiased” polling expert, has his pat lines down too-“trickle down”? Do you have the slighest understanding of the idea that economics in a capitalist system isn’t a zero-sum game? And, do you even know who “neo-conservatives” are (Irving Kristol, for ex.) and what they believe, or it just a handy stick with which to beat up people you disagree with? Your comment reads like Democratic Convention cliches, 1944-2002. Next you’ll be railing against Herbert Hoover.
By the way, why would you assume the people starting the new site are “imitating” yours? I hope you were kidding.
Hi Mark. Thank you very much for the nice, kind words.
It’s kind of nice to be blogging again, even if I haven’t really gotten back into the swing of actual writing, per se.
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