The Candidate, the Pollster, and the Cocker Spaniel

“…I got a little change in my pocket goin' jing-a-ling-a-ling, wants to call you on the telephone baby, a-give you a ring, but each time we talk, I get the same old thing, …” Keep Your Hands to Yourself, The Georgia Satellites. One person’s heaven is sometimes another person’s hell, and this is why I don’t trust polls. Pollsters are neat freaks; they want everything measurable. I’ll give you measurable-picture a modern woman, moderate Republican, or conservative Democrat, a senior corporate executive-she’s rushing through the parking lot of a grocery store with three heavy bags of groceries in her arms, a cocker spaniel, she’s just picked up from the Vet’s, on a leash hooked to her left ankle and, she’s keeping a close eye on the three shady-looking dudes sitting in a car, checking her out. She’s going home to two teenagers, who were too busy on their iPads to pick up the goddamn dog at the Vet’s, and a husband who’ll be glued to ESPN, well into his third Martini, still bitching, weeks later, about losing a promotion to some broad because she had big tits and was probably blowing the CEO. Go ahead, try to put her into a category-good luck with that. MAGA and the far left of the Democratic party are eager to share their support for a candidate, and easy reads for the pollsters. The 40% swing vote in the middle feels little, if any loyalty to a party, they vote on issues. They’ll also be more inclined to vote against, rather than for a candidate. They’re more pragmatic than the left or right, and much less emotional. They don’t attend rallies, don’t have a sign in their yard, or a bumper sticker on their car. They also don’t respond to pollsters and consider the constant emails and text messaging a pain-in-the-ass. So, here’s where we’re at six months in front of the election-Biden has a solid 30%, Trump has a solid 30% and the remaining 40% is not turning over any hole cards, they’re busy “call blocking” phone numbers and replying “STOP” to text messages….