Okay, not really. This afternoon Citizens United released a poll it commissioned from the GOP pollster Wenzel Strategies. It has Romney up by 3 in Ohio. You’ll note it pushed Ohio back into the Toss Up column on our scoreboard. This is simply our methodology. We include partisan pollsters, as long as basic internal demographics are within reasonable bounds and certain details about the poll are released.
But this poll doesn’t strike me as having much credibility. Here’s why.
No one credible poll shows this kind of margin or any margin for Romney in Ohio. Also notable, the PollTracker Average shows currently that Romney has a net .2% favorability rating in Ohio. The Wenzel poll says he has a net 22% favorability. Neither Romney or Obama have ever had that kind of favorability in Ohio or anywhere else in the country.
That’s just not credible. For whatever reason it seems very clear that Wenzel got a very Romney leaning list of respondents.
That said, the way to aggregate polls is to have a specific set of criteria that you use regardless of subjective impressions. This one counts. So it’s in. In all cases, it’s best to keep your eye on the averages. We’ve got no shortage of Ohio polls. That’s my take.
