So much for polling

January 8th, 2008 at 11:13pm Aaron Chambers

If polling was any clue, Obama was supposed to sweep New Hampshire with Clinton’s beleaguered campaign.

Here’s an overview of New Hampshire polling, which showed Obama with a decisive lead (more than 10 points in some instances) in major polls.

Here’s more data showing Obama’s lead heading into Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, coupled with an analysis. Even Clinton’s own team feared a loss is the nation’s first primary state.

What happened? Clinton won New Hampshire on Tuesday, despite all that data pointing to her imminent political death. More here.

It’s tempting to say Clinton surged thanks to publicity surrounding her notorious crying incident. Maybe this was a factor, but it’s hard to imagine she jumped more than 10 points in one day thanks to a single well publicized but momentary display of humanity.

Perhaps, as this writer suggests, voters responded to a Clinton campaign that finally, belatedly, appeared to recognize that people want a candidate who actually seems interested in engaging them. They don’t want a robot.

Entry Filed under: national politics