Stakes for Jobs Figures Rise as Voters’ Views Start to Solidify

… Some pollsters reject the idea that summer economic measures will settle the choices of undecided voters, who tend to make up their minds very late. “Personally, I think it borders on the ridiculous,” said Mark Mellman, a prominent Democratic pollster. “No one can say for sure that anything is truly locked in at any point.” But others said that polls and studies demonstrated the outsize influence of second- and third-quarter economic data. “It’s more that economic changes take several months to be felt by voters,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster. [cont.]

Annie Lowrey and John Harwood, New York Times