Nov 01 2009
Only 19% Think Burr Deserves Reelection
According to a poll out by Elon University, only 19% of North Carolinians feel that Senator Richard Burr deserves reelection to a second term. I am surprised by this, but not that surprised. I am not at all shocked that the number is low. As I’ve written before, Burr and his staff haven’t done a lot of work in the PR department. His approvals have been hovering around 40% and below for a while now. What surprises me is how low this number is. God, that’s worse than George Bush. Somebody on his staff had better wake him up pretty damn quick if he wants to see another six years.
Despite this low number, he still out polls all potential Democrat candidates by double digits which means two things. The candidates have so far been lackluster and there are a lot of undecided voters. Burr hasn’t done much to put his name in the lime light, but the state as a whole isn’t overly happy with Obama or the Democrat party at the moment. It seems people haven’t thought much about this yet, but I think with such poor numbers on both sides of the aisle, this opens up a great opportunity for a third party candidate to hop in and get some momentum, much like what is happening in New York right now with the 23rd Congressional race.
Please do not post the results of the Elon poll. You are doing a disservice not only to the people of North Carolina, but to those of us who conduct legitimate polling.
The results are laughable and their methodology would not hold up to any sort of scrutiny.
Namely:
1. The poll all North Carolina adults, regardless of if they are registered to vote, illegal alien or whatever. If you have a phone, you might get called.
2. Their demographics are so far from what actual voter turnout is, it makes the poll irrelevant.
The Elon poll is roughly 64% white. In 2008, 75% of the voters in North Carolina were white.
The Elon poll is roughly 9% hispanic. In 2008, only 2.5% of the voters in North Carolina were hispanic.
I could go on. But I’ve given the Elon poll more of my time than it deserves.
If he had hired a consultant who knew what he was doing, he could have done a lot more this year to put himself in position for the campaign. Unfortunately, he did not. I hope that we do not have to live with the loss of this seat as a result.