Home > Political Notebook > Archives > 2008 > July > 24 > Entry
New survey shows Udall in the lead
A new poll from Virginia-based pollster Keith Frederick shows Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall maintaining his lead over his GOP opponent, former Fort Collins Congressman Bob Schaffer.
According to the poll, which surveyed 700 likely voters between July 16 and July 22, Udall has the support of 48 percent of likely voters compared to Schaffer’s 39 percent. The poll shows 15 percent of likely voters are undecided.
The poll has a margin or error of 3.7 percentage points.
* * *
So what makes all of these recent poll results so disparate?
Their varying results could be rooted in different pollsters using different polling methodologies.
For example, if a pollster is weighting responses to conform with the state’s voter registration breakdown, allowing respondents to self-identify their party affiliation could skew the results. And using voter registration databases to identify the people sampled versus the aforementioned method could affect the results. The surveys also could have used different phrasings of the question.
The best way to wrap your hands around what all of these polls mean — and which could be more accurate than others — is to look at where they fall in line (or out of line) with past polls on the race. Check out Pollster.com to see a longitudinal tracking of polls on Colorado’s Senate race.
*Udall photo from The Rocky Mountain News.
Comments