We've been thinking about this for some time: a flood of Republican- friendly polls being released just before the election intended to do several things. One, to "spook" Democrats and Democrat- leaners in order to depress turnout; and, more ominously, as several former Republican Party insiders put it:
... Michael Steele, the former Republican Party chairman who is strongly anti-Trump but has retained his GOP registration, agrees that some of these polls are gamed. “I know they are,” he said. “I’ve talked to enough people on this side of the street to know they are.” The way it’s done, he says, is that “you find different ways to weight the participants, and that changes the results you’re going to get.” That’s a striking allegation coming from such a longtime senior GOP insider.
Steele also shares some of the same worries as Rosenberg, Bonier, and others—that pro-Trump pollsters are feeding a perception of a Trump lead to provide his allies a way to blame a Trump loss on a rigged election. “They’re gamed on the back end so MAGA can make the claim that the election was stolen,” he said.
Stuart Stevens, the anti-Trump former Republican pollster, agreed. “Their game plan is to make it impossible for states to certify. And these fake polls are a great tool in that, because that’s how you lead people to think the race was stolen,” Stevens said. All manner of postelection mischief-making, and maybe even political violence, would be thus justified...
The linked article goes into significant detail about the polling strategies and techniques under scrutiny, but the basic message is, don't get spooked by the polling, just get out the vote for Harris-Walz. Vice President Harris and others have said they're prepared for the Malignant Loser and his merry band of fascists to claim victory regardless of the real outcome and for potential violence. And yesterday she said,
... [W]e will deal with election night and the days after, as they come, and we have the resources and the expertise and the focus on that as well...
We have confidence that they do. When we fight, we win!
(Image: John DiJulio, University Communications, University of Virginia)
