Embracing Rasmussen
William Jacobson, a professor/blogger who’d been highly critical of the push for a poll in Massachusetts, embraces the new Rasmussen poll that shows Republican
Jul 31, 2020636.8K Shares8.4M Views
William Jacobson, a professor/blogger who’d been highly criticalof the push for a poll in Massachusetts, embracesthe new Rasmussen poll that shows Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown nine points down.
“„This is better than I expected for Brown. [Attorney General] Coakley has been a statewide figure for years, and has much better name recognition, SEIUand other union support, and the Massachusetts Democratic machine behind her. Obama won the state by over 20%, and Coakley should have had at least a mid-teens lead at this point.
Jacobson engages in something I noticed while reporting my story yesterday — underestimating Coakley to hype up the chances of the upset. He claims, for example, that Coakley took a six-day vacation at the end of December. That’s not quite true. Coakley made a campaign stopon Dec. 23; four days later, she participated ina debate. Brown did some media on Christmas Eve, but he also took a little time offduring the holiday.
The two candidates have had a much different approach to “netroots” outreach that, I think, is coloring expectations. Simply put, Brown is doing a lot of outreach and his supporters point to Twitter followers, Facebook fans, and blog support as proof of momentum. Coakley’s not doing much of that, and Democratic strategists in the state deride Brown’s hype in the face of Coakley’s duller, but traditionally effective, focus on local endorsements and GOTV.
That said, the fear of people like Jacobson was that a poll on the race would focus attention on Jan. 19 and bring out Democrats who thought the election was over. That seems to be happening.
Paolo Reyna
Reviewer
Paolo Reyna is a writer and storyteller with a wide range of interests. He graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Media Studies.
Paolo enjoys writing about celebrity culture, gaming, visual arts, and events. He has a keen eye for trends in popular culture and an enthusiasm for exploring new ideas. Paolo's writing aims to inform and entertain while providing fresh perspectives on the topics that interest him most.
In his free time, he loves to travel, watch films, read books, and socialize with friends.
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