PPP’s polling raises some eyebrows; favorability numbers for NM Governor shift 6 points in just days

Capitol Report New Mexico - Is there something funny going on with the surveys Public Policy Polling (PPP) is releasing here in New Mexico? PPP is a national outfit associated with the Democratic Party. The North Carolina-based firm doesn’t hide that fact but insists it doesn’t allow its rooting interest for Democrats and liberal causes interfere with its polling data. Republicans often cry foul when PPP numbers show GOP candidates and issues in less than favorable light — that’s natural in the zero-sum game of politics. But conservatives complain that PPP surveys aren’t just snapshots of elections and issues but, rather, an attempt to advance talking points to try to shape opinion and influence the media. “They’re not so much a polling organization as they are a group of people trying to establish a narrative,” one statewide Republican official who preferred not to have his name used told Capitol Report New Mexico this week. PPP Director Tom Jensen has said that’s simply whining. “It’s fine with me if your readers want to not believe our polls,” Jensen told the conservative magazine The National Review in 2010, “but we have no history of cooking the numbers for Democrats.” But a couple issues have come up in polling that PPP released this week for New Mexico. For example, on Wednesday (April 25), PPP released some numbers about the Barack Obama-Mitt Romney race. While releasing the numbers, Jensen declared in a news release that “New Mexico is not going to be a swing state this year,” pointing to its survey showing President Obama with a 14-point lead in the state over Romney. Read More News New Mexico

PPP’s polling raises some eyebrows; favorability numbers for NM Governor shift 6 points in just days