Straw polls. So what?

Posted at 12:45 PM on March 16, 2006 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Ken Rudin at NPR asks a good question.

Excuse me, but what "meaning" could possibly come out of a presidential straw poll taken of 1,427 Republicans at a party conference some 650 days, give or take, before the 2008 Iowa caucuses? We haven't even had the '06 midterm elections yet, for gosh sakes, and we're paying attention to straw polls on whom the GOP will pick two years hence? Hello?

(Update 7:26 p.m.) And J.J. Sutherland answers him.

Comments (2)

Umm, because it has been an enormously successful barometer of sentiment among those most likely to pick a GOP nominee.

Posted by Gary M. Miller | March 16, 2006 1:12 PM

Ummm, because it's a really, really easy story to do, and it automatically generates other stories about those who agree and disagree with the prognosis.

Posted by Charlie | March 16, 2006 8:28 PM

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