More on Ball’s poll
If you recall, state Assemblyman Greg Ball, R-Patterson, released a poll this week showing him running pretty close to Rep. John Hall, D-Dover Plains, in his bid to unseat the congressman.
Some, though, took issue with the way the poll was conducted, pointing out it didn’t sample the entire Congressional district and it oversampled Putnam County, where Ball lives and where his Assembly seat is based.
Two more items related to this whole thing –
1. Here’s a defense of the poll sent out last night by Ball’s Congressional campaign.
Todd Vitale of Vitale & Associates dismissed the criticisms of the poll.“We’re on solid ground. Sounds like DC insiders trying to muddy the waters in order to avoid having to explain the incumbent congressman’s vulnerability to Greg. Our poll shows that Greg is strong in the most competitive parts of the district, and Putnam and Westchester are indeed porportioned as they should be based on projected turnout in 2010,” Vitale said.
“When we do a full CD19 poll later in the campaign, our N=300 sample will include n=44 in Putnam (15%), and n=79 in Westchester (26%), based on estimated 2010 turnout contribution by county – the same county vs. county ratio of interviews in the poll we just released. The only difference will be that in a full CD19 poll, we will also include a full set of interviews to include Orange, Rockland and Dutchess—which have traditionally been Republican strongholds – and therefore which will only IMPROVE the results for Ball,” Vitale said. “Thus, we should stand by our poll, which has presented a proportionally accurate snap-shot picture of voter attitudes in the most competitive parts of the district.”
Jim Coleman, a spokesperson for the Ball campaign, concurred.
“Fearful of an Independent Republican like Greg Ball, Washington insiders are trying to manufacture a candidate. But that candidate’s 2% name recognition shows they are failing miserably, despite enlisting rival vendors to question the methodology of a national pollster with fifteen years experience working on national campaigns,” Coleman said. “New Yorkers have abundant evidence of Washington insiders stepping in to throw their weight around, and we know what the result was: the Democrats won.”
2. Here’s a write-up from CQ Politics where other pollsters weigh in on the technique.
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Umm, you neglect to mention that EVERY SINGLE one of those independent, uninvolved pollsters cited in the CQ Politics piece you link to basically laughs the Ball campaign out of town, and completely contradicts the Ball campaign spin you’ve reprinted above. Just sayin’.
WTF?
My head hurts just just attempting to tackle to this idiocy… where to start?
Well, first off – I just googled “Vitale & Associates” and, unless this guy moonlights in the real-estate investment business or online poker – I can’t seem to find him. Also, the Congressional Quarterly blog listed a number of other pollsters who completely discredited this poll, its sample and the decision to release it. So much for Mr. Vitale being a 15 year veteran of the business…
To each is own. If Ball wants to continue to believe his own press releases and listed to an array of “yes” men who tell him, not the truth, but what he wants to here – fine. Just don’t ask other people to believe the bullsh*t.
two words: amateur hour
vitale? coleman? who?
i hope the jn will pen a follow-up story to this nonsense. especially since this isn’t the first time ball has lied to a reporter at this paper…
I think what this recent incident does is refresh for many the fact that Ball has no credibility… as an assemblyman, as a congressional candidate, as a person.
Ball, in the course of one campaign, managed to set a record for the number of lies, distortions and misleading information he spread. He was admonished by the League of Women Voters’ Fair Campaign Practices Committee more times than any other candidate in the committees’ 18 year history.
Ball frequently practices character assassination against anyone he disagrees with be it political opponents, former staffers, elected officials, colleagues, former girlfriends, political party leaders… you name them and Ball’s probably had them in his sights at some point. He’s just not a good person. It’s that simple.
Greg Ball is a joke. Just look at his legislative record = all he cares about is NRA gun nut, hunting laws. He is yet to do anything for his consituents except run his big mouth. What I find laughable is his new yes guy, Terrance Murphy just got voted as Town Council Member in Yorktown after getting slaughtered 2 years ago for county legislator = he now puts him on some committee and is advising him. Good luck Yorktown having the two worst elected officials representing you.
Forget about the poll. Three days after this was released Ball is no longer running for congress. He’s running for NY State Senate to replace Liebell who will be running for Putnam County Exec.
If Mr. Risnit wishes to conduct an investigation, he should do one on Jimmy the Weasel Borkowski. How he shamefully went BEGGING to the Smith camp and McConville camp for a job, after maligning Smith fine character for 6 months and hitting him and andy below the belt constantly. He ran the venomous campaign I have ever seen. Thankfully, Smith had the good mind to tell Borkie to get lost. And what job did Borkowski want? Oh, not that much. Just UNDERSHERIFF.