The University of North Florida (UNF) Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL) is under fire for conducting a poll of head-to-head matchups between Donald Trump and Democratic candidates with one notable exception — Bernie Sanders. The UNF polled potential matchups of Trump vs. Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, and Kamala Harris. They also polled Warren and Biden vs. Vice President Mike Pence.
Sanders supporters were quick to ask why Sanders had been excluded from the poll, despite the fact that he’s polling in a stronger position than both Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris.
In response to the criticism, PORL Faculty Director Michael Binder stated:
As [with] all polls, it’s a balance between number of questions and length of survey. I made a call to include the top two candidates and then two others that may provide some interest to the public and are in potentially different positions – Buttigieg is rising and Harris has stalled. I think the real value of the data is that they are all pretty darn close in the head to head. We only polled Biden and Warren vs. Pence, again leaning on the top 2 as the cut point. If you’re concerned that Sanders is left out, by that rationale any poll that leaves out Bennet, Booker, or Steyer in a series of head to heads is just as problematic. Obviously this wasn’t a Democratic primary poll, we’ll be conducting one of those in [South Carolina] in a couple weeks and that will include all the active Dem candidates.
Thanks for keeping up with our work.
Mike
Binder added on Twitter that Buttigieg and Harris were selected because PORL wanted to see how candidates with “different diversity” would fare.
In my view, there are a handful of problems with Binder’s rationale. First, Binder forms a subjective opinion that surveying Buttigieg and Harris would provide some nebulous public interest that Sanders wouldn’t. However, one could reasonably argue that polling Sanders would have more public interest — he just posted the strongest Q3 fundraising numbers of any candidate, recovered from a heart attack, and received endorsements from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar.
Second, Binder concedes that this isn’t a Democratic primary poll, yet he uses rationale (inaccurate as it may be) based on Democratic primary polling to justify including Buttigieg and Harris, but not Sanders.
Third, Buttigieg isn’t rising. As 538’s Nate Silver points out, Buttigieg’s “rise” in Iowa isn’t really a rise. He has been polling around 13% in Iowa for some time and his national numbers are mostly flat.
Fourth, Harris hasn’t stalled — her numbers have plummeted since the second Democratic debate. Ironically, Sanders is a great example of a candidate who has stalled in the polls. He has been polling around 16% nationally with no major bumps or dips since early May. However, a recent national poll conducted by Emerson shows Sanders in a strong second place at 25%, just two percent behind Joe Biden.
Fifth, Bernie Sanders is Jewish. The only other Jewish candidate in the race is Marianne Williamson. The United States has never had a Jewish President. Apparently the “differently diverse” standard didn’t apply to Bernie Sanders.
The UNF PORL poll shows Warren and Biden lead both Trump and Pence head-to-head, while Trump holds narrow leads over Buttigieg and Harris.
A September Florida poll conducted by Florida Atlantic University showed Sanders trailing Trump by 1% in Florida.
This crap needs to stop. 2016 was corrupt and now it’s starting again. Last time, people went ahead and voted for Hillary. ThAT WON’T HAPPEN THIS TIME. SO ALL YOU PEOPLE PLAYING AROUND WITH THE NUMBERS, YOU CAN COUNT ON ANOTHER 4 YRS OF TRUMP.
I agree with you, JoAnn. This crap has to stop and it’s happening again. I didn’t think rigging like we’ve seen in the last election season and with the media in THIS current one wouldn’t happen or be tolerated in this country, but, sadly, it is. It definitely needs to be stopped.
He’s gonna impeached by December. Wtf are talking about
Their response is a lot of words for “We Hate Sanders”
It’s up to Us to Win this Election because Corporate media Do Not want this Man to Win Proping up Nobodies just Won’t cut it this Time & Good looking out People Our Collective Voices Must & Will be heard
Denis, exactly !!..THANK you !!
Bernie Sanders 2020 #NotMeUs
Go Fuck yourself, this is not a fair demo when you suppress the people candidate, who bought you off no honor no dignity,
You have lost your way and are corrupt and manufacturing a false narrative.
Shame on you..
Fuck you.
This is an independent poll and has nothing to do with the candidates, blaming the candidates for how this poll was done is playing into republicans hands. If you don’t like the poll then ignore it and find another poll, but don’t blame the candidates for it.
This stinks to high heaven
Just FYI – There was a twitter comment yesterday by someone claiming to work in the lab that did the survey. They reported asking the lab director why they excluded a top-3 candidate and his answering, “not for long” and laughing. Frankly, to maintain credibility as a polling institution, UNF needs to do an investigation.
President Bernie Sanders!
Get ready for Donald Trump, 2020. (he’s hateful, but the Dems and their media lackey are making it easy for him.)
What a crock! Talk about skewed polls! They’re following MSM’s Bernie blackout. Who paid for this bogus poll?
This is the same determination we have before to get Bernie’s popularity out of the news. We have seen it all before. The crowds that he draws cannot not be ignored. However, they seem to be by the media and others.
NotMeUs! Feel the Bern!
A September Florida poll conducted by Florida Atlantic University showed Sanders trailing Trump by 1% in Florida
Binder’s rational under fire doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. It’s not scientific. Has he been unduly influenced? Jacksonville is a Republican good old boy militarized stronghold. He needs to be replaced.
If you want another four years of this corrupt POTUS trump, just keep up your BS. #Bernie2020
Michael Binder, you are the worst kind of Neoliberal prick and you need to go eff yourself! What a travesty!
Your “poll” is a piece of crap. Outlets like yours are responsible for another 4 years of Trump.
Rigged, fake polls are how we get Donald Trump, ASSHOLES.
Bernie or bust in 2020! Down with corruption! Down with the war mongers big business imperialists! Down with the media monopolies! Down with the oligarchy! Power to the people!