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PoliGAF 2012 |OT4|: Your job is not to worry about 47% of these posts.

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pigeon

Banned
Unless Mitt has some miracle showing in Monday's debate, he is pretty much toast.

I find comparing PEC to 538 very interesting. Silver is very invested in the concept of "momentum" -- most of his modelling seems to be based on a) an almost Platonic idea of a fundamentally national race which all individual states derive from and b) an immense focus on identifying and projecting velocities (which, in some ways, is a natural fit with a model that does "on-the-fly" reweighting of every variable -- if you didn't watch velocity and it was present it would probably throw your whole system out of whack). Wang basically throws out both those assumptions completely and starts with a completely state-based race and the most pessimistic, nearly random-walk, theories of momentum. Given their pretty variable approaches, it's interesting that they both agree that "Obama +2" is basically the state of the race, even if Silver is more pragmatic about the possibility of change than Wang is. (In fairness, Wang is careful to note that he's always assuming the election is today.)
 
Is it theoretically possible for obama to actually be down that much and just win the swing states he needs to win. Of course if the vote actually went that way there would be riots in the streets around the country.
 

giga

Member
BL6f+


http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2012-general-election-romney-vs-obama (not yet updated with today's Gallup or IBD)

They track 524 national polls. Don't let individual polls blindside you. Instead, follow them as an aggregate. (Or, don't follow them at all. Swing state polls are far more important.)
 
Is it theoretically possible for obama to actually be down that much and just win the swing states he needs to win. Of course if the vote actually went that way there would be riots in the streets around the country.

Of course it's theoretically possible, its theoretically possible to win the election with less than 20 votes.
 

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
I find comparing PEC to 538 very interesting. Silver is very invested in the concept of "momentum" -- most of his modelling seems to be based on a) an almost Platonic idea of a fundamentally national race which all individual states derive from and b) an immense focus on identifying and projecting velocities (which, in some ways, is a natural fit with a model that does "on-the-fly" reweighting of every variable -- if you didn't watch velocity and it was present it would probably throw your whole system out of whack). Wang basically throws out both those assumptions completely and starts with a completely state-based race and the most pessimistic, nearly random-walk, theories of momentum. Given their pretty variable approaches, it's interesting that they both agree that "Obama +2" is basically the state of the race, even if Silver is more pragmatic about the possibility of change than Wang is. (In fairness, Wang is careful to note that he's always assuming the election is today.)

It is pretty telling that both of their approaches get the same result though, Obama +2. It lends a bit of credence to both I think.
 

HylianTom

Banned
Is it theoretically possible for obama to actually be down that much and just win the swing states he needs to win. Of course if the vote actually went that way there would be riots in the streets around the country.

Definitely possible, especially if Romney runs-up the score in the South (remember: foaming-at-the-mouth Obama haters) and Bible Belt. The swing states are much more hardened than the non-swings, so their margins aren't going to move as much as a result of campaign events, while the non-swings' numbers could still migrate over time.

Possible, but not very common. This might be a fun year for it to happen, though.
 

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
Definitely possible, especially if Romney runs-up the score in the South and Bible Belt. The swing states are much more hardened than the non-swings, so their margins aren't going to move as much as a result of campaign events, while the non-swings' numbers could still migrate over time.

Possible, but not very common. This might be a fun year for it to happen, though.

That would be funny if the only reason the popular vote is close is that the South came out in droves.
 

HylianTom

Banned
That would be funny if the only reason the popular vote is close is that the South came out in droves.

It would be hi-larious. And Thanksgiving/Christmas would be epic for me. I'd be tempted to buy a camera, hide it, and film family commentary.

Me: "I didn't just vote for him - I sent money to his campaign."
Family: ... {steam is seen rising from the tops of their heads}
Me: "Hmm. I wonder who his next Supreme Court appointee will be." {walking off, humming The Smurfs theme}
 
If the disparity between the Southern numbers and everywhere else hold, I have to imagine talk of secession will ramp up pretty hard. It'll fizzle out though.

Gallup will either be right or very wrong, not much to discuss. Ultimately their poll will ensure voter fraud charges on November 7th, if Obama wins. The only question is who exactly jumps on. If it's just Rush and company, who cares. But I expect Fox and mainstream elected republicans to complain in full force, citing that poll. It's unlikely Obama will gain in the south enough to change Gallup's numbers.
They're not going to have much going for them if Gallup is the only poll that shows that, though. Every other outfit is showing a tie to a small Obama lead which is probably what we'll see on election day (his strength will be concentrated heavily in the swing states).

Unless they want to insinuate that Democrats "stole" the 2010 election too by cutting the GOP's margin in half.
 
Definitely possible, especially if Romney runs-up the score in the South (remember: foaming-at-the-mouth Obama haters) and Bible Belt. The swing states are much more hardened than the non-swings, so their margins aren't going to move as much as a result of campaign events, while the non-swings' numbers could still migrate over time.

Possible, but not very common. This might be a fun year for it to happen, though.
Given the hate and potential for violence, there will be nothing "fun" about it
 

Cloudy

Banned
Given the hate and potential for violence, there will be nothing "fun" about it

If Obama wins w/o the popular vote which is doubtful, at least there's the recent precedent of Bush. It's not like the GOP can try to delegitimize him any worse than they've already done...
 

cousins

Member
If the disparity between the Southern numbers and everywhere else hold, I have to imagine talk of secession will ramp up pretty hard. It'll fizzle out though.


They're not going to have much going for them if Gallup is the only poll that shows that, though. Every other outfit is showing a tie to a small Obama lead which is probably what we'll see on election day (his strength will be concentrated heavily in the swing states).

Unless they want to insinuate that Democrats "stole" the 2010 election too by cutting the GOP's margin in half.

Secession will never happen. Ignoring everything obvious, Texas is so important to the nation as a whole that it would never be considered.
 

HylianTom

Banned
If Obama wins w/o the popular vote which is doubtful, at least there's the recent precedent of Bush. It's not like the GOP can try to delegitimize him any worse than they've already done...

And this would be a "clean" split, unlike Bush's circumstance.

Romney and the Republicans damn well know the rules of the game, and in that situation, Obama will have out-gamed them, fair and square.
 

Jackson50

Member
So we will discredit Gallup but proclaim a poll that shows Romney with a mere 1 point lead in the south great? Both polls are shit, from opposite ends.
Thank you for being objective and keeping PoliGAF honest.
Seriously, so we finally get to the point with Iran where we've squeezed them enough to agree to talks and now a bunch of warmongers might win the election. God Bless America.
I'm not worried about negotiations. Barring unilateral concessions from the U.S., negotiations are likely to fail. However, if the U.S. initiates military action, or authorizes Israeli action, which seems unlikely, it would disintegrate the international regime against Iran. One of the successes of Obama's Iran policy has been nearly universal condemnation of Iran. A few states occasionally shirk their obligations, but the world has been rather coherent in coordinating disapproval and sanctions. If we initiate military action, that unravels instantaneously. We only endanger our interests with belligerence.
 
I remember being hopeful going into November in 2004, but wasn't Kerry actually down and not up? Was clear on election day he would lose.
Yeah the polls showed a clear lead for Bush in 2004. The liberals pushed the idea of undecided votes breaking for the challenger, which conservatives have been doing this election. Sam Wang's model estimated that Kerry would win 311 electoral votes based only on this (Ohio and Florida going for Kerry) - his model that only looked at the polls and assumed an even split in undecideds was right on the money.

PhoenixDark said:
To be fair, the EC favored Bush in 2004; Kerry had one path to victory. And in 2000, both candidates had one path to victory: Florida. Obama is better off electorally.

Dunno why you guys are freaking out. Stand up for what you believe
The funny thing is, if Gore had won New Hampshire he wouldn't have even needed Florida.
 

HylianTom

Banned
I remember being hopeful going into November in 2004, but wasn't Kerry actually down and not up? Was clear on election day he would lose.

Kerry was narrowly down (with occasional state polls here and there showing him either tied or with a very slight edge) and many were hoping that undecideds would break in favor of the challenger.
edit: and beaten by Aaron
 

Trurl

Banned
To be fair, the EC favored Bush in 2004; Kerry had one path to victory. And in 2000, both candidates had one path to victory: Florida. Obama is better off electorally.

Dunno why you guys are freaking out. Stand up for what you believe

The election is so big that individually we are impotent to change the outcome (I would never say that to person hesitant about voting, but it's true), and at the same time each of us feel strongly invested in the outcome. When you combine those two facts, perhaps freaking out a bit isn't too surprising.
 
Some Ohio GOTV info. The first point focuses on early voter margins from polls, which we've discussed already. #2 and #3 are more interesting
2. Registration numbers strongly favor President Obama:
-- Four in five Ohioans (81 percent) who have registered to vote in 2012 are either
female, younger than 30, or African-American or Latino – all demographics that
strongly favor President Obama.
-- Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of Ohioans who have registered to vote in 2012 – and
the same percentage among those who have already voted – live in counties that
President Obama won in 2008.


3. Early vote numbers strongly favor President Obama:
-- More than half (55 percent) of the early-vote ballots requested so far this year have
been requested by women, 3 percentage points greater than 2008 early voters.
-- 582,402 ballots have been requested this year from precincts that Obama won in
2008, 33,414 more than in from precincts that McCain won.
-- The total number of votes already cast this year (both by mail and in-person) from
precincts Obama won in 2008 is 261,304 – 55,636 more than from precincts McCain
won.
-- Democrats’ margin over Republicans in votes cast has increased by 21,792 compared
with this point four years ago.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/...from-Obama-campaign-We-re-winning-Ohio-Period

All voters who would never show up on a LV model
 

Cloudy

Banned
BTW the other thing to look for in the NBC/WSJ poll is the job approval number. I'm surprised there was no mention of that in the article
 

pigeon

Banned
Thanks Aaron...

Oh wait that's fucking PD wtf

PD's transformation into a reasonable poster in the face of Diablos/Cheebs/cartoon is a microcosm of how the GOP's lurch rightward is turning moderate conservatives into disgusted center-left Obama voters. PoliGAF continues to represent society.
 

Cloudy

Banned
These guys are still predicting 332-206 Obama

http://frontloading.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-electoral-college-map-101812.html

As we have alluded to here in the past, the polls in the time before the first debate had already started to take a slight turn toward Mitt Romney; a turn that was exacerbated by that debate. There are a couple of ways of looking at that and what happened (or will happen) next. One view is that the first debate turned things off and that the vice presidential (and perhaps now the second presidential) debate slowed that trend down and triggered the leveling off that we have seen. The opposing view is that the first debate merely sped up something that was underway already: a return to the fundamentals of the race. In other words, the race was bound to return to the Holbrookian equilibrium of the race where the president -- based on the economy and presidential approval (among other factors) -- held a small advantage in the race. That has been borne out in the polls. The race has narrowed, but the president continues to hold small but consistent leads in enough states to reach 270 electoral votes.

Have some states slipped away? Yes and no. North Carolina has been consistently in Mitt Romney's column all along, and seems to be close but realistically off the table now. Florida, Colorado and Virginia, too, have moved toward Romney and in a way that tips slightly toward the governor, but are still competitive. And that movement toward Romney is true in other states as well, but not to the same extent. Those states (Ohio, Iowa and New Hampshire among them) are similar to the three above, but (slightly) favor the president.
 
Some Ohio GOTV info. The first point focuses on early voter margins from polls, which we've discussed already. #2 and #3 are more interesting

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/...from-Obama-campaign-We-re-winning-Ohio-Period

All voters who would never show up on a LV model
Please keep posting like this. I might start liking you.
BTW the other thing to look for in the NBC/WSJ poll is the job approval number. I'm surprised there was no mention of that in the article

What was Obama's job approval number?
 
Folks, the regressions have been run, and I was right.

Its statistically significant.

There is no greater correlation in this election than the shift in CA gas prices and the national poll numbers.

If you think you can find a more significant coefficient, then go ahead, run the regressions. You won't find one.

Behold the gas prices plotted against the Obama/Romney average national polls, courtesy of RCP

obama.jpg



I hate to say it but....

I was right, again.
 
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