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Liberal Group Releases Misleading Poll
Maine People's Alliance seeks to boost Democrats

On Thursday, the polling arm of the left-wing Maine People's Alliance, released a deceptive poll vastly oversampling self-described Democrats, designed in a way that inflates the perceived strength of Democratic candidates in the upcoming election.

The poll's bias is evident in that it samples 41% Democrats, 34% Republicans and 24% independents, which is not a realistic breakdown of voters who will go to the polls on November 6th. The result is a poll portraying Democrat Mike Michaud with a 56-37 lead in the 2nd District race. The same poll shows Republican Charlie Summers with just 28% support in the U.S. Senate race. Meanwhile the polling firm PPP released a poll the same day showing Summers gaining strength with 35%. PPP did not poll House races.

"The admitted bias in the Maine People's Alliance poll by oversampling Democrats and undersampling independents certainly reinforces that this is a much closer race than this liberal group would have us believe. A poll more accurately reflecting the make-up of the 2nd District electorate would suggest that Rep. Michaud is in very dangerous territory for a five-term incumbent," said Raye spokeswoman Kathie Summers-Grice.

"Legitimate polling methodology accurately reflects the voting electorate expected to turnout on Election Day, and no realistic model would suggest that 41% of those voting in Maine's Second District on November 6th will be Democrats. Nor is there any reason to project that independent voters, who are the largest bloc of Second District voters, will comprise only 24% of the turnout," said Summers-Grice.

"Given the flawed methodology and the fact the poll was taken during only the first few days that Kevin's TV commercials began airing, the bottom line is that it is clearly not an accurate snapshot of the state of the race," said Summers-Grice. "We are encouraged that a more realistic cross-section of voters would show a close race, and more so as voters become familiar with Kevin's impressive record of constructive leadership with each passing day."

Here is the article from today's Maine Today newspapers, which also notes the discrepancy in the poll's sampling.

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