President Obama’s campaign manager Jim Messina on Tuesday took multiple swipes at public pollsters, namely Gallup, in an interview with Politico.
Messina claimed that the campaign’s internal model on early voting was within a percentage point of the ultimate results, and the campaign was within .2 percentage points of nailing the final outcome in Florida.
“That’s why I knew most of the public polls you were seeing were completely ridiculous,” Messina said. “A bunch of polling is broken in this country.”
Messina also criticized Gallup’s performance in the 2012 campaign. The national firm has emerged as a punching bag for its polling in this year’s cycle, but Messina said Gallup’s poor showing is hardly a new development.
“Gallup has been wrong repeatedly in presidential elections for a long time,” Messina said.
The Obama campaign was highly critical of Gallup during the campaign, criticism that’s continued following Election Day. On Friday, Obama’s chief pollster Joel Benenson told Politico that it’s “long overdue” for Gallup to adjust its model to comport with the changing demographics in the country. Gallup’s samples throughout the campaign were weighted to include fewer younger and minority voters than in 2008, an assumption ultimately proven incorrect by this year’s exit polls. Gallup responded to Benenson by contending that the exit polls should not be treated as “gospel.”
h/t Business Insider
