NBC polling correction causing stir among Democrats
By
Ross O'Keefe
July 15, 2024 9:20 am
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Public Opinion Strategies, a polling firm used by NBC News in its latest poll, revealed a massive mistake in a survey released Sunday that appeared to show President Joe Biden ahead by 3 percentage points nationally.
Former President Donald Trump, not Biden, had been ahead by 3 points in a multicandidate race, according to a statement from the company. The company acknowledged its mistake Sunday night, well after many Democrats had seized the poll as an opportunity to buoy Biden.
“The polling team extends its apology to NBCNews and to all those who reviewed the filled in questionnaire of our most recent survey,” the company posted on X.
“We made an important mistake on the filled in released today. On the multi-candidate ballot (Q8, corrected here) we flipped the numbers,” it added. “President Biden is not ahead with 40% to 37% for former President Trump. In fact, Trump is ahead 40% to 37%. The correct data is reflected in the crosstabs and slides, but unfortunately these numbers were flipped in the topline document that the polling firms prepared for public release for NBC. We take full responsibility for a very significant error on our part. Deep apologies.”
The error represents a massive 6-point swing to Trump in what would’ve been one of Biden’s most successful polling efforts in a multicandidate poll, which has generally favored the former president.
Politico reported that the correction is “zipping across the text messages of Democratic leaders” as many Democrats pushed the original poll result on social media.
A local Democratic Party chairman, Chris D. Jackson, posted the poll’s original results in a breaking news format.
https://twitter.com/ChrisDJackson/status/1812512045826224251more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/3082290/nbc-polling-correction-causing-stir-among-democrats/
