What does Washington’s political elite really think? Over the past two weeks, we surveyed 74 Beltway insiders—37 Democrats, 37 Republicans—on the election, the state of politics, and what comes next. … Among the respondents: Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom and Obama adman Jim Margolis; Kerry right-hand Bob Shrum and McCain consigliere […] Read more »
Latest swing state poll snapshot
One week ago, we took a look at the swing state polls, which were just starting to show some movement in the wake of the first Obama-Romney debate; now on the eve of their second face off, we can certainly see how things changed in favor of the Republican nominee. […] Read more »
TV Debates That Sell More Than Just Drama
… 67.2 million viewers tuned into the first debate, according to Nielsen, making it second only to the Super Bowl so far this year. … Ratings sometimes go up in the second and third rounds of the debate cycle, and given the kind of Frazier-Ali hype surrounding this matchup, there […] Read more »
Closing Arguments Hit Airwaves
… The Obama camp is the first out with what has the look and feel of a simple distillation of a campaign’s final pitch. The ad, called “Challenges” and set to the rumbling baritone of Morgan Freeman, attempts to boil down the Obama presidency into a highly favorable 30 seconds. […] Read more »
What the undecided voters want
What do undecided voters want from presidential candidates, anyway? … In a polarized election year, the dwindling ranks of undecided voters have become objects of wonderment and even ridicule. Polls report that only about 6% of the nation’s likely voters are still on the fence; another 12% or so have tentatively […] Read more »
Yellow May Be the New Blue: What Voters Think of the ‘Big Bird’ Ad
The Obama campaign released an ad this week that used Big Bird to attack Mitt Romney. … We showed the ad to a representative sample of 600 Americans right after it hit the airwaves. … Yellow may now be the new blue. That is, the ad appears to have generated […] Read more »