Thread on when I specifically cite all the flawed methodology in this year's polls, there's a separate angle highlighted by this story. See, it's not just the historical context they're failing to filter their weighting through as I've cited. There's also new information missed.
This story highlights a JP Morgan analysis that dug into all the voter registration numbers across the country. And with limited exception, they are quite favorable towards Republicans.
Even if you're polling off a 2016 voter file when Trump also won, you're going to miss this. So are you even bothering to account for it? And if you're not, how are you specifically accounting for it?
For example, since 2008 the GOP has wiped out about 70% of the Democrats' voter registration edge in Florida. So how can you possibly forecast dominant Biden wins there as we've seen of late? Quinnipiac's final FL poll in 2018 had DeSantis losing by 7! He's governor now.
In 2016 I worked for the Cruz campaign. During the Iowa Caucuses, some of the public pollsters were correctly identifying we were going to set massive turnout records here. However, their assumption of what that meant was off everywhere.
A group called @theFAMiLYLEADER was undergoing a massive new voter registration largely missed by the media. Just as these voter registration numbers across the country are largely being ignored by big media polls in 2020.
TFL was specifically targeting Bible-believing Christians that had never voted in a caucus before. And while they weren't specifically advocating for a candidate, the turnout message was heavily driven by ideology and adherence to principles.
Do the math from there, on caucus night we did set a turnout record. 45% had never attended a caucus before, and Cruz (the ideological candidate) actually won that group to win Iowa. He out-performed the final RCP polling average by a whopping 8 points!
This is why I think the Biden campaign was sounding the alarm in a private memo this week. Because campaigns always have better data than the public. The reason I alone correctly predicted Cruz to win Iowa, is because I was the only media figure with Cruz's campaign data.
I'm not a shaman or prophet, I just had better data. And data always wins. The same has gone with Covid. I've not been proven right this year because I'm an epidemiologist or immunologist. But because I actually went to the data those people provide, when unfiltered by politics.
Biden may well win. I wouldn't bet on Trump straight up, for example. But I certainly would with +160 or higher odds available now. Yet that's a separate question.
I'm merely discussing the polling modeling we're seeing. And, as I've pointed out repeatedly, its deeply flawed.
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I looked into the cross tabs of this poll in 3 key battleground states -- Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Because it is absolutely impossible for Trump to get the required 270 Electoral College votes without winning at least 1 of them. Darned near impossible for him to get there without winning at least 2 of them.
Here are some cross-tabs that just don't make sense:
Nevada
-Claims Trump is winning women by 9 there when he lost them by 10 in 2020 (if this is true, why all the caving on abortion then?).
-Claims Trump is winning men there by 18 when he won them by only 5 in 2020.
-Claims Trump is winning Hispanics there by 11 when he lost them by 26 in 2020.
Pennsylvania
-Claims Trump is only losing women there by 3 when he lost them by 11 in 2020 (if this is true, why all the caving on abortion then?).
-Claims Trump is ahead there despite doing 5 points worse with whites than he did in 2020.
-Claims Biden is only getting 44% of the Philadelphia vote when he received 81% of it in 2020.
-Claims Biden is only getting 50% of the black vote there when he received 92% in 2020.
Some takeaways from the #IACaucus results in this thread, the first official votes of the 2024 election.
Before the vote, I said I was confident in 4 things:
1) Turnout would be down. ✔️ 2) DeSantis would over-perform his polling. ✔️ 3) Haley wouldn't finish second. ✔️ 4) Haley would be closer to Vivek than DeSantis. ✖️
So I was right on 3/4. But there are details in there that must be further discussed, so we shall.
Turnout Would Be Down.
Make no mistake, this was a dominant performance by former President Trump. He more than doubled the record for largest caucus win ever (previously set by Dole 1988, who didn't win the nomination btw). Before we get into some other ominous signs within the turnout, though, that needs to be acknowledged from the jump. It is clear 'muh polls' were right about his support. Congratulations to him and his team. Tip of the cap. You blew the roof off the joint. Give them their flowers.
However, this election isn't about winning the Iowa Caucuses. It's really about winning 294 days from today. And to that end, there are concerns.
Yes, I expected turnout to be down. Until recently, this has been a low energy cycle in Iowa. Then we had the worst winter weather I can remember leading up to the in-person vote. However, I never expected a 41% drop in turnout from 2016. That is not good. When you factor in we have by far the most registered Republicans in the state's history, this is the worst turnout in the history of the Iowa Caucuses.
Can it all be chalked up to weather? Perhaps. But remember, GOP turnout was noticeably down across-the-board in the special and off-year elections in 2023 as well. So this is something to watch as we move forward, because I can't think of a time when a party had diminished turnout in a primary cycle and then went on to success in the general.
The biggest driver in depressed turnout? Shockingly it was white evangelicals -- long considered perhaps Trump's strongest base. They were 64% of caucus goers in 2016 but just 55% this year. No GOP nominee is winning a general election with depressed white evangelical turnout like that, no matter what percentage of them he gets.
My man is the first elected official to snap the spines of the demonic teachers' unions in a major urban population center. This is a generational accomplishment. All he does is win on policy, which is what matters most. Except when it doesn't...
The problem is it's very hard to build an uber-lucrative following in this business with a narrative of winning on policy, because much of the GOP base doesn't actually care about policy despite its claims to the contrary. We are not the people we claim to be.
Since we're not backed by gubmint and global corporations like Left Media, we often need to move where the food is. Which is more often found perpetuating a victim narrative more than a victor one, and exposing Leftist hypocrisy more than demanding GOP accountability.
With a night to sleep on it and reflect, thought I'd share some thoughts on the Colorado Supreme Court being the first to do the kinds of things I've been predicting for most of this year we were going to see. Let's try and look at this from several different angles.
Legal
People whose opinions I respect, including some that aren't even in the Trump Ride or Die camp, believe the opinion is basically junk. However, never forget this:
We are not a nation of laws, and never have been, but a nation of political will, and we will always will be.
For example, imagine Righty social media post-Roe v Wade. "This is complete bunk. There's no right to murder your kid in the Constitution, let alone an explicit right to privacy. This will get overturned." Instead, Roe was the "law of the land" for half a century.
With the release of the latest Iowa Poll, and the Caucuses now just 35 days away, I think it is time to have a blunt conversation about the state of things. Not just Iowa, but beyond. And I'm going to tell you what I really think, because that's what I do.
And therefore, I'm not sure anybody is going to like it, but that's just my way lol.
The main goal here is not Iowa but defeating the Demoncrats 329 days from today. I have never said that before, but this time I am convinced the country cannot survive another four years of this combined manifestation of corruption, evil, and idiocy.
This is in Politico Playbook this morning. Trump campaign meeting with corporate media who hates us all, but they’re conspiring together to destroy @RonDeSantis. The same media that tried to impeach Trump and is trying to put him in prison now, nevertheless toasting his campaign. All the same people the Trump campaign is schmoozing now will of course go all in to defeat him in the general.
From a Little Birdie who was there at the same restaurant and witnessed it firsthand:
“Not a single conservative media outlet was there. All corporate and left-wing media. On the one hand, it is noteworthy the Trump campaign felt the need to travel the length of the country for a debate their candidate supposedly doesn’t think is worth his time. But to actually see these two supposed mortal enemies yucking it up, to see the liberal media completely in bed with the Trump campaign like that, it was surreal.”
This just goes to show the Trump campaign/team thinks this is all just politics. And they can reel in these vipers for some silly "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" 1-dimensional chess. Meanwhile, enemy media speaks with forked tongue. Its father is the father of lies. They advocate for murder, human trafficking, gender mutilation, etc. out in the open. The true doctrines of demons.
The Trump campaign isn't using the enemy media. It is using them. They are the ones playing 4-D chess here. At the same time the Trump campaign is buying the high-end steak dinners and bottomless glasses of wine, these same people are coordinating with the deep state to destroy Trump and anyone adjacent to him -- even to the point of imprisonment.
Meanwhile, Trump and his team again acting as if this is all a game, except they're the ones being played (and us). This isn't pro wrestling with heroes and heels and Hulk Hogan goes from a real American to Hollywood. This is an outright Cold Civil War, and only one side will win. The other will be lost to history. We're playing a game. They're playing for keeps.
This is what I mean when I say our side just isn't serious. But the other side is as serious as a Covid jab-inducing heart attack.
They accused you of being traitor and Russian asset. They stole an election from you. They impeached you. They're trying to imprison you now. And your people are wining and dining them? Are you freaking kidding me? What will it take to take this all seriously?