I was going through Twitter this morning, and this caught my eye.
I wondered about this new poll, mostly because it was from the Boston Herald, a notoriously right-wing paper. And I'm not saying Bernie Sanders isn't leading Clinton in New Hampshire -- he's going to be competitive and I expect him to win in the early, mostly-white states.
The real story about this polling is, was this an attempt by some forces on the GOP side to to downplay certain Republicans and boost others? (Internals here.)
GOP presidential upstart Donald Trump has lost ground in New Hampshire since his tirade against Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, but still leads the field ahead of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and a surging Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a new Franklin Pierce University/Boston Herald poll reveals.
Trump is topping his rivals in the Granite State with 18 percent support, followed by Bush at 13 percent, Kasich at 12 percent, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 10 percent, according to the Franklin Pierce-Herald poll of 414 likely GOP primary voters.
In another surprise, businesswoman Carly Fiorina has jumped to fifth place in New Hampshire with nine percent support. Fiorina has spent most of the campaign at the bottom of the pack and didn't even make the cut for the Fox News debate last week.
I don't think there's any question that the powers that be want Fiorina in those high-profile debates. They're gung-ho on having her attack Clinton.
So, pollster who apparently hasn't polled any elections since 2008 releases buzz-y poll on 2016. Hmm.
— Daily Kos Elections (@DKElections) August 12, 2015
Franklin Pierce Univ. RT: @namattes: Also, Andrew Card is president of the university.
— Daily Kos Elections (@DKElections) August 12, 2015
Yeah, that Andrew Card. The former Bush White House chief of staff.
Just checked Nexis. Can't find any Franklin Pierce U. polls since 2008 *primaries*. They really didn't even poll the general?
— Daily Kos Elections (@DKElections) August 12, 2015
Franklin Pierce's polling arm falls under the Marlin Fitzwater Center: http://t.co/3qm9zzgTnn He was press sec'y for Reagan & Bush
— Daily Kos Elections (@DKElections) August 12, 2015
Franklin Pierce's poll was conducted by R. Kelly Myers, who used to run UNH, one of the worst pollsters in the world https://t.co/qTb2hJ3Vzp
— Daily Kos Elections (@DKElections) August 12, 2015
Bottom line: Franklin Pierce poll could be right—other NH polls have close race. But outfit has questionable pedigree & limited track record
— Daily Kos Elections (@DKElections) August 12, 2015
If ever there were a time to wait for more polling, this is it. If you like a poll's results, that's when you should be especially skeptical
— Daily Kos Elections (@DKElections) August 12, 2015
