This is the time in an election cycle when people who do politics for a living are nervous. They look for evidence, favorable or unfavorable, they can trust. They weigh what polls tell them against what their instincts tell them, or against what they believe can still happen. It is a time of uncertainty, even if a wave is coming. …
Democratic pollster Peter Hart sent out a memo late Friday summing up the most recent NBC-Wall Street Journal survey. He quoted Chuck Todd, the moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” as saying the results could be interpreted as showing a blue wave election, or as an election in which there has been a Republican surge of late, or one in which Republicans lose some seats but there is no wave.
“This is not a pollster dodge to avoid responsibility for a surprising result in November,” Hart wrote in his memo. “Rather, it is a reflection of how current voter attitudes send conflicting messages about this election.” CONT.
Dan Balz, Washington Post