1. The Polls Tell You Something…
Real Clear Politics has a current running aggregate of the
most recent Iowa polls, showing Trump and Cruz on top, with Rubio and Carson
far below, and the rest in a muddle below 5%. While Trump might be leading it
would be foolish to call Iowa a slam dunk for him at this point because the
polls tell you something…
2. …But Not Everything
Ben Shapiro wrote a great
little piece recently where he reasonably
questioned the Iowa polls. Often, candidates and supporters will denigrate polls because they don’t say
candidate x is winning—but Shapiro questioned
the polls for the following reasons: the Iowa Polls are historically inaccurate, the
Polls are broad (i.e. possibly not screening their samples appropriately, and many
Iowa voters make last second decisions), and the ground game in Iowa isn’t
favoring Trump. Historically Santorum didn’t poll well and still "won" Iowa. What
does this mean? It means that Trump and Cruz probably will do well in Iowa but it probably doesn’t mean a blowout, and it probably
doesn’t mean something like a Christie win. It’s likely just a rough estimate
at best. The sample sizes are small, and potentially the margins for error
large. And a lot still hangs on…
3. The Donald-Free Debate
Donald Trump is skipping the debate. Admittedly this is odd
for a perceived top-tier candidate—yes, Rand Paul did it recently but arguably
he had nothing to lose, and Trump does—if the polls are even somewhat reasonably accurate. Trump’s perspective is likely this: he’s telling the media to go to
hell, and telling them he doesn’t need them. It’s somewhat a given that every
candidate worships at the Altar of the Media during election season but Trump
is making a point not to. Or course this could backfire and Cruz’s observation
that Trump is skipping out on answering the hard questions for Iowa voters might be
the perception that takes hold among voting Iowans.
4. The Debate Must Go On
Chris Matthews thinks no one is going to watch a debate
between two Cuban guys, but then again the closest Matthews has ever been close
to a real Cuban is probably the last time he paraded himself past a janitor in
the hall. The truth is that if Iowa voters notoriously decide last-second,
they’re watching and pondering. Cruz will take shots at Trump, Rubio will
target Cruz and try to generate more steam, and the rest are praying for a
break through and a good performance.
5. Iowa Isn’t Everything…
The 2012 primary proved this brutally. Rick Santorum carried
the popular vote in the early January caucus and had dropped out by early
April. Mitt Romney came in a hotly contested second, but it was Ron Paul’s
little delegate rebellion that ultimately gave him the win from 3rd
place. In the end it didn’t matter; Barack Obama won the 6 electoral votes by
nearly 6% over Mitt Romney. Do Iowa voters matter? Certainly, but historically
they may not be a good predictor for the rest of the race.
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