Pollsters at ABC and The Washington Post found some bad news for Biden… but the pundits at ABC and the Post were dismissing their own poll as an outlier.
Between Sept. 15 and 20, pollsters surveyed 1,006 adults, mostly but not exclusively through cell phones.
The poll asked about a hypothetical election held that day, and it found Donald Trump leading Joe Biden by a margin of 51 to 42. Plus, the poll found Trump winning 52 percent of voters already registered.
After these shocking results, the poll whisperers at the Post cast doubt on the paper’s own poll.
“The sizable margin of Trump’s lead in this survey is significantly at odds with other public polls that show the general election contest a virtual dead heat,” the Post‘s pundits wrote Sunday. “The difference between this poll and others, as well as the unusual makeup of Trump’s and Biden’s coalitions in this survey, suggest it is probably an outlier… Outlier results occasionally occur in polls due to random error and nonresponse issues.”
ABC News looked even more frantic in its attempt to dismiss the poll.
Rick Klein, ABC News political director, said on air —
Maybe the most startling number in our poll is this: the hypothetical matchup, a rematch of Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden. Our poll with the Washington Post, pegging this at 51 percent for Donald Trump over Joe Biden. That is a nine-point edge.
Now, that’s only a couple of points’ difference from our last poll in May, but it is significantly different than our last poll in May, but it is significantly different than most recent polls.
It is an outlier, compared to other polls we’ve seen recently. Our partners at FiveThirtyEight put together an analysis for us. They find an average of recent polls having this more in the one- or two-point range, with Joe Biden typically having the edge.
Whether you believe that or not, there’s a good chance that there’s people just trying to send a message in the polling right now, given the frustration that we’ve seen.
We know, in this poll, there’s some quirks, some oddities around the number of Black voters and Hispanic voters, younger voters that seem to be supporting Donald Trump…
However, ABC News still acknowledged the overarching finding of the poll.
“The weaknesses that we are seeing for Joe Biden and his approval rating across the board are very real,” Klein concluded. “They are alarming to Democrats, even if no one thinks this is ultimately going to be a nine-point race.”
Take a look —
The Horn editorial team