2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhy do we need all these MA presidential polls?
Are they to remind us all that the state which knows Mitt the best will not be voting for him in November? Shouldn't that be a huge red flag to people in other states?
Mitt has to be embarrassed to be running over 20 points down in the state he governed.
TroyD
(4,551 posts)1. The fact that Romney appears to be going down in the state where he was Governor shows that the people who saw him Govern (if you can call it that) and who would know him best, don't trust him.
2. The MA Presidential polls can also help us evaluate whether Obama going up is likely to have a similar effect for Elizabeth Warren in the Senate race, and therefore allow the Democrats to keep the Senate.
Therefore, while the outcome of the MA Presidential race itself is not in doubt, the *margin* with which Obama wins is important in determining the outcome of the Senate.
WI_DEM
(33,497 posts)everybody knows Obama will easily win MA, but it's a competitve race for the Senate seat and if Dems win it, it's a pick-up (also it's Ted Kennedy's seat). So when pollsters poll MA for the senate numbers they naturally include the presidential race. Otherwise I don't believe we would see so many MA polls.
TroyD
(4,551 posts)Or the state where he was Governor to be more precise.
So they're also polling it because it's the state where the Republican nominee was Governor, and it's a way of monitoring how well he is liked there.
WI_DEM
(33,497 posts)Given its reputation in presidential elections and if Obama were winning by 15 or more points in early polls, I doubt pollsters would spend money polling the state if it were just a ? of the presidential election. The Senate race is the only real race this year, plus one House race.
TroyD
(4,551 posts)It's the most high-profile of all the Senate races in the country.
But I think the secondary reason is because it's the state where one of the Presidential nominees was Governor.
TexasCPA
(527 posts)We never get IA polls. Maybe because there are only 6 EVs there.
WI_DEM
(33,497 posts)I agree it will be nice to see where Iowa is.