NYT: Bush Aide Watches Polls and Public Perceptions

[kskiska]

I'm so glad we have a president who pays no attention to polls and focus groups.


Matthew Dowd, President Bush's chief campaign strategist, is not just the man who conducts the president's polling. He also works to control public perceptions about where the presidential race stands, perhaps more aggressively than many other campaign aides in his position.

When Mr. Bush has risen sharply in the polls, Mr. Dowd has stepped in pre-emptively with memorandums widely sent to Republican officials, supporters and journalists to dampen expectations and warn that the country remained closely divided. "President Bush's approval numbers will again fall back to more realistic levels fairly quickly," he wrote in a publicly released memo when the President had particularly high ratings after major combat operations ended in Iraq last spring.

When campaign officials worry public polls make the President's situation look too grim, Mr. Dowd also steps in, most vociferously when he believes the grimness to be in error. The most recent example of that came this week, when a new poll from The Los Angeles Times showed Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts leading President Bush among registered voters by seven percentage points - a lead just beyond the poll's margin of error. Mr. Dowd publicly and sharply called the poll a "mess," prompting a public spat with the news organization's polling director about the nitty-gritty of polling methodology.

(snip)

"I don't know if I've ever seen a campaign have somebody who was in charge of overseeing polling and at the same time play this public of a role," said Charles Cook, the editor of The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan political newsletter, and also a connoisseur of the fine points of polling. That Mr. Dowd does play this role underscores just how much Mr. Bush's campaign believes public polls can affect public perceptions of the race and help shape its contours even five months before Election Day.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/12/politics/campaign/12campaign.html?pagewanted=all&position=

[struggle4progress]

1. Sounds like they want everyone to expect a close election.

[shraby]

2. That's cause the electronic voting

is cooked. It's a done deal for Shrub. If the polls are close, no one will question it when he wins.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. I would not quite say, NO ONE

but middle America will not, that is for sure

Hence why we need to get ALL to the polls.

[shraby]

4. How can you argue with

an electronic voting machine?? Ask for a recount?

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. CERTIFIED PAPER TRAILS

What can I say?

Oh and we may see something else happen if
people even suspect the election was cooked.

[AndyTiedye]

6. The Machinez Took a Double-Digit Lead Away from Max Cleland

We need twice as many votes as Bush* to keep him from stealing it.

That would be the biggest landslide in history.

[makhno]

7. Fuck the Times

after major combat operations ended in Iraq last spring.

How clever of them to insert that little gem into the article. And so public perception is shaped, blatant propaganda reinforced by subtle reminders.

[Robbien]

8. I wonder if this guy posts on conservative web sites

There always seems to be at least one guy who tries to herd the dittoheads/freepers along these lines. It could be one of Dowd's duties, to make sure everyone on the fundie right walks in step.