CNN and the Des Moines Register canceled the release of a poll of likely Iowa voters, citing an issue that may have affected the results.
The poll would have likely been the last one released before Iowa Democrats pick their preferred presidential candidate in Feb. 3 caucuses.
“CNN, the Des Moines Register and Selzer & Company will not be releasing the final installment of the CNN/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll,” CNN said in a Feb. 1 statement posted on Twitter.
“A respondent raised an issue with the way their interview was conducted, which could have compromised the results of the poll. We were unable to ascertain what happened during this respondents interview, and cannot determine if this was a single isolated incident.
“CNN, the Des Moines Register, and Selser & Company aim to uphold the highest standards of survey research and therefore the partners decided not to proceed.”
What Happened?
According to Axios, one of the poll respondents contacted the campaign of Pete Buttigieg, a Democratic presidential candidate and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana. The respondent said that the surveyor omitted Buttigiegs name from the list of candidates read to him over the phone. The campaign then contacted the pollsters.
Axios reported that “an interviewer at the polls call center increased the font size of the questionnaire on their screen so much that the bottom choice (which rotated between calls) wasnt visible,” referring to an unidentified “CNN source.”
Iowa Influence
Iowa is traditionally the first state in the primary process and, to a degree, the results of the caucuses hint at whether a candidates campaign is viable.
CNNs eleventh-hour poll, in turn, could have had some influence on the outcome.
CNN was planning an hour of programming focused on its poll, Politico reported on Feb. 1.
“[The poll] has the power to fuel a candidates 11th-hour momentum—or damage a contender who under-performs expectations,” the report stated.
Still, Iowas specific form of conducting caucuses makes predicting the results difficult. Voters congregate in their precincts and different areas in the venue are set up for each candidate. Voters stand in the candidates area to indicate their vote. Each candidate can also dispatch people to try to convince voters in other areas to switch their picks. After an initial round, candidates that didnt get at least 15 percent support in the precinct are marked “non-viable” and their supporters can choose a different candidRead More – Source
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The Epoch Times
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