Wednesday, February 24, 2010

It's too bad Kentucky's primary is so late

From GOP12:
A new Magellan Strategies survey (pdf) has Sarah Palin leading her prospective 2012 rivals in Kentucky.

1. Sarah Palin 28%

2. Mike Huckabee 24%

3. Mitt Romney 16%

4. Newt Gingrich 12%

5. Ron Paul 4%

6. Tim Pawlenty 2%

If Sarah Palin wins Kentucky in 2012, she'll already be the Republican nominee. But that's all FHQ is willing to say. As of now Kentucky is scheduled to hold a May 22 presidential primary in 2012.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Gallup on 2012: Obama in a Deadlock with Generic Republican

Oh, and there was an open-ended GOP primary question too. [Here's the Gallup release.]

2012 General Election
Obama: 44%
Republican: 42%
Other: 3%
Not Sure: 11%

Sample: 1025 adults (nationwide)
Margin of Error: +/- 4%
Conducted: Feb 1-3, 2010

Notes: Obama garners nearly 90% support from Democrats and the Republican gets 86% from Republicans in the survey. Among independents, though, the GOP holds a 45%-31% advantage over the president.

2012 GOP Primary Race
Romney: 14%
Palin: 11%
McCain: 7%
(Scott) Brown: 4%
Huckabee: 3%
Gingrich: 3%
Paul: 2%
Pawlenty: 1%
(Bob) McDonnell: 1%
Fred Thompson: 1%
Jindal: 1%

Other: 10%
None/No Opinion: 42%

Sample: 495 Republicans or Republican-leaning independents (nationwide)
Margin of Error: +/-5%
Conducted: Feb 1-3, 2010

Notes: That's a lot of survey respondents who have no opinion or chose no one. Despite that lack of a clear "face of the party," the generic GOP candidate still fares rather well against the president. Yes, generics usually do pretty well, but still, it isn't a bad place to be if you happen to be on the right.

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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Palin for President

Well, I think it is safe to say that Sarah Palin's drop-in on the Tea Party convention in Nashville has accomplished one thing: everyone is talking about her running for president again. Some folks never stopped, but the chatter has hit a new stride post-Tea Party.

Marc Ambinder sees a Palin paradigm shift.

...and Nate Silver is already looking ahead to the 2012 primaries (I don't like the calendar he's using there. For FHQ, it is too hypothetical. We would take a more conservative approach and use a more traditional calendar -- until there's actual proof of a calendar like that having been signed off on by either of the two major parties.)


Friday, January 22, 2010

PPP: 2012 Presidential Trial Heats (Jan. '10): Obama Trails (Huckabee) for the First Time

Public Policy Polling [pdf] today released their monthly look at the 2012 presidential playing field. Here's a quick look a the toplines (I'll be back later with a full analysis and updated figures.):

Huckabee: 45%
Obama: 44%
Undecided: 11%

Obama: 49%
Palin: 41%
Undecided: 9%

Obama: 44%
Petraeus: 34%
Undecided: 21%

Obama: 44%
Romney: 42%
Undecided: 15%


Margin of Error: +/- 2.8%
Sample: 1151 registered voters (nationwide)
Conducted: January 18-19, 2010

NOTES:
1) The president is under 50% against all four prospective GOP presidential aspirants in this month's poll for the first time since PPP started these examinations last March. How is January going for the president again?

2) The sample voted for McCain in 2008 at the same rate as the actual results (46%), but Obama has dropped off in this sample versus the actual vote total in November 2008 (53% to 47%). Yes, the sample still favors the Obama slightly, but that makes for a much more competitive balance between the president and his Republican counterparts.


Tuesday, January 19, 2010

MA Senate Special: Open Thread

FHQ obviously has not weighed in on this race since the primary set the stage early last month. Here we are, though, on yet another election day. The dynamics in this one have been interesting. In political science we operate under the assumption that there will be some tightening in the polls in any race as election day nears. However, in blue Massachusetts, with Ted Kennedy's seat on the line, the fact that Scott Brown has pulled even and even surpassed Martha Coakley in some polls exceeds even those expectations.

The polls are open (and close tonight at 8pm Eastern) and Bay staters are voting. What are your thoughts on how this race has progressed and who do you think will pull this thing out tonight (...or in the near future if we have to wait!?!)?


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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Final Democratic Change Commission Meeting

Frank Leone from DemRulz sends this along concerning the final meeting of the Democratic Change Commission today:
The DNC Change Commission held its final (hour-long) meeting this afternoon (by conference call). The Commission approved a draft report that recommends converting most automatic unpledged “superdelegates” to pledged delegates who will fill slots reflecting the voter preferences in their state’s primary or caucuses – thus becoming automatic, pledged, voting convention delegates. The DNC Rules and Bylaws Commission (RBC) will consider the Commission’s report and then forward proposed delegate selection rules to the DNC for action later in 2010.
Frank has more on superdelegates, but FHQ will focus on the primary timing aspect of the proceedings today.
Calendar: Under the Commission’s proposal numerous states (including Virginia) will have to move their primaries back to after March 1. It will be easier to achieve date changes in 2012 if the RNC agrees to have a similar starting date. Nevertheless, some states will be in a situation where there is a state mandated primary date which does not comply with the DNC’s schedule. The RBC will reexamine the delegate selection rules which provide for sanctions and exceptions.
No, there's nothing new there and FHQ has certainly documented the potential pitfalls in this March 1 plan if the Republican Party does not follow suit with a similar calendar.

I'll have more when Frank gets the full recommendations up.


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Merry Christmas from FHQ

The 2009 Census Population Estimates are Now Public

Tis the Season

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas from FHQ

To all our readers, commenters and contributors, FHQ wants to wish you all the merriest of Christmases and the happiest of new years. This site is nothing without you. Thank you.


Recent Posts:
The 2009 Census Population Estimates are Now Public

Tis the Season

Have Things Really Gotten This Bad for Democrats?

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The 2009 Census Population Estimates are Now Public

Here's the release from the Census Bureau:

Census Bureau: Texas Gains the Most in Population
Last State Population Estimates Before 2010 Census Counts


Texas gained more people than any other state between July 1, 2008, and July 1, 2009 (478,000), followed by California (381,000), North Carolina (134,000), Georgia (131,000) and Florida (114,000), according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates

California remained the most populous state, with a July 1, 2009, population of 37 million. Rounding out the top five states were Texas (24.8 million), New York (19.5 million), Florida (18.5 million) and Illinois (12.9 million).

"This is the final set of Census Bureau state population estimates that will be published before the official 2010 Census population counts to be released next December," said Census Bureau Director Robert Groves. "We are focused now on ensuring we get a complete and accurate count in 2010. The census counts will not only determine how many U.S. House seats each state will have but will also be used as the benchmark for future population estimates."

Wyoming showed the largest percentage growth: its population climbed 2.12 percent to 544,270 between July 1, 2008, and July 1, 2009. Utah was next largest, growing 2.10 percent to 2.8 million. Texas ranked third, as its population climbed 1.97 percent to 24.8 million, with Colorado next (1.81 percent to 5 million).

The only three states to lose population over the period were Michigan (-0.33 percent), Maine (-0.11 percent) and Rhode Island (-0.03 percent). The latter two states had small population changes.

Other highlights:

  • Net domestic migration has slowed dramatically in many states in the South and West, including Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, North Carolina, South Carolina and Montana.
  • Several states have negative net domestic migration, which means more people are moving out than moving in. Florida and Nevada, which earlier in the decade had net inflows, are now experiencing new outflows.
  • Louisiana’s July 1, 2009 population, 4.5 million, is up 40,563, or 0.91 percent, from a year earlier.
  • The nation’s population as of July 1, 2009, was 307 million, an increase of 0.86 percent since July 1, 2008.
  • The estimated July 1, 2009, population for Puerto Rico was 4 million, up by 0.32 percent (12,735) from one year earlier.

The population to congressional seat gain/loss report should be up later this week sometime. I'll get an updated map for 2012 up when that information is made available.


Recent Posts:
Tis the Season

Have Things Really Gotten This Bad for Democrats?

Who's Happy with a the Parties' Tentative Outline of a Primary Calendar for 2012?

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Tis the Season

FHQ has been fearful of this happening for a while now. My Google Alert for frontloading activity ahead of the 2012 presidential primary cycle is turning up more and more links to frontloading washers and dryers; the payments on which you can delay until 2012. How exciting! [Hey! I felt the need to share. Maybe you're interested in a new washer and dryer?]

On another note, we'd like to apologize for being quiet the last few days. Winston Salem got hit by the snowstorm that has made its way up the eastern seaboard and, well, I've been distracted. Hopefully something will be up late tonight and with some more regularity this week.


Recent Posts:
Have Things Really Gotten This Bad for Democrats?

Who's Happy with a the Parties' Tentative Outline of a Primary Calendar for 2012?

USA Today Presidential Approval Tracker is Now in FHQ's Side Bar

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Have Things Really Gotten This Bad for Democrats?

[Click to Enlarge]

Are liberals serious about this? FHQ is sure some are -- there are only 35 votes on that poll -- but c'mon. I don't understand the purism on the extreme end of both parties. If you want to get something -- anything -- done, you have to have members of your party in power (And yes, that means members of the same party with differing viewpoints.). Undercutting this president or any other is simply political fratricide. All or nothing is no way to approach American politics. It never has been, and in a supermajoritarian body like the Senate, it never will be.


Recent Posts:
Who's Happy with a the Parties' Tentative Outline of a Primary Calendar for 2012?

USA Today Presidential Approval Tracker is Now in FHQ's Side Bar

Public Policy Polling: December 2009 Presidential Trial Heats In Depth