Pollster John McLaughlin told Newsmax on Tuesday that Republicans are seeing "momentum" in recent polls ahead of the midterm elections Nov. 8.
When asked about recent polls from places like Quinnipiac University and Marist College, McLaughlin told "American Agenda" "I wish these colleges would stick to football and basketball, but they get a lot of publicity for" polling.
"You have to check the quality control in the polls and when the polling was done … how the sample was done," McLaughlin added.
He said, "our models are models for the polls, we go back and look at the exit polls. We look at actual voter turnout. We draw a sample from a registered voter list. We screened for likely voters. It's an expensive process … because most people don't have landlines anymore. You have to call them on a cellphone. Some people you have to text them, invite them to take the survey online. And then you have to mix it all together and make sure that it really represents the electorate."
McLaughlin went on to say that when it comes to the science of statistics, "19 times out of 20 you’re within the margin of error, which for 1,000 samples is +/-3%. So there's a swing in there, but you read the polls and see what's going on, incumbents like [Gov.] Kathy Hochul in New York is a quasi-incumbent, if she's [polling at] a 50, she's in big trouble."
He said, "You saw it last year with Gov. [Phil] Murphy in New Jersey. It was hovering at 50/51 . All of a sudden, Jack [Ciattarelli] literally comes up, and he's only losing, you know, by 60,000 votes."
McLaughlin said, "You're seeing the same kind of momentum for Republicans, where nationwide, the top issue is inflation. Biden's upside down. Most voters disapprove, 65% say the country's on the wrong track, and the Republicans have gone from, in our national polls, from being tied 45-45 in the generic ballot, to being up 48-44 last month, and today we have them 49-43, so big change."
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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