Responding to a survey from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling that showed his popularity in the gutter, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) on Monday questioned the accuracy of the pollster.
Flake was one of five senators shown in PPP’s latest survey to have suffered a backlash after voting “no” on legislation that would have strengthened background checks on gun buyers. The poll showed 51 percent of Arizona voters disapprove of Flake’s job performance, while 52 percent said his opposition to background checks makes them less likely to support him in the future. Flake’s response? Consider the source.
“If we believed PPP polls,” Flake told The Daily Caller’s Matt Lewis, “I wouldn’t be here at all.”
Flake added that PPP’s “only accurate poll” is the survey conducted right before the election so that, as the junior Arizona senator put it, “they can do well in terms of how they’re rated.”
“But prior to that,” Flake said, “take it with a grain of salt.”
Tom Jensen, director of PPP, quickly fired back on Twitter, pointing to a survey in February of last year that showed Flake up by 11 points and one right before the election that showed the Republican up by 5. Flake ultimately defeated Democrat Richard Carmona by 3 percentage points.
@mattklewis We said Flake was going to win by 5 and he won by 3: publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/PPP_R…
— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) April 29, 2013
@mattklewis We had Flake up by 11 last February which kind of kills the last week before the election argument: publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/PPP_R…
— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) April 29, 2013
