UPDATE: How long were you guys going to let me get away with this? Kudos to VA Sportsman for smacking me around on what is an egregious error on my part. The latest Mason Dixon poll showed Kilgore up by 1, not Kaine. Still, the main thrust of the argument remains, and I’ll leave my ignorance here for posterity to witness. Moving on…
Mason Dixon’s latest poll shows Democrat Tim Kaine up by one.
For a better survey of the land, I’ve turned to the same resource I used last year: RealClearPolitics.com, which shows a series of polls done over the course of time.
Mason Dixon says Kaine by one. Rasmussen says Kilgore by four, the Post says Kilgore by seven, SurveyUSA says Kilgore by six.
Taken as an average, one can reasonably conclude that for Democrats starving for good news recently can take the Mason Dixon poll as either (a) a ray of hope, or (b) an oncoming train.
Could the argument be made that this week’s debate stripped Kilgore of five-six points and handed them to… Potts? I seriously doubt it. Something doesn’t pass the common sense test here, and if poll watchers can add anything it’s that of essence, it’s that this poll – like any that would show Kilgore up by 10 – should be treated as nothing extraordinary.
Kilgore spokesman Tim Murtagh sums everything up nicely:
“This poll flies in the face of everything we have seen eight other public polls and our own internal polling — that shows Jerry Kilgore with a clear lead in this race. . . . There is no evidence to support what this poll says. We will continue to run as if we are 10 points behind.”
Well see if the next polls show Kilgore up by the predictable five points, and whether there will be chest-thumping from self-styled “Kainiacs” then.