Post #18: The last week of November

I think what I am about to do is taught in Marketing 101 as Big Mistake #1, but I'm about to slam my product this week. There were only three polls released, largely because of the holiday, and because the data set is so small, we see some big swings that I can't recognize as real just yet. There may be more polls released on Monday and Tuesday that change the numbers, but if that's the case, we won't see them until next Sunday.

The GOP chart has the three huge changes, with Trump going up 6.3 points to his highest level ever, while Ben Carson drops 7.3 points into a tie for third and fourth place with Ted Cruz. (I think more polls will come in and Dr. Carson drop won't be as severe, but I do think the general downward trend will continue.) We also have a 3.3 point drop in None of the Above, the one result I can clearly explain.

I never name individual polling companies unless I plan to speak ill of their product, and that is the case this week with Gravis Marketing, a name I remember from 2011-12 with no fondness. While some companies are lazy about the undecided, Gravis is either dogged in their persistence or they make numbers up. I find the second explanation more likely. In any case, their poll results added up this week to show that -2% of the the GOP electorate is undecided at this juncture. It could be rounding error and it could be a bullshit poll. I think I have already said which I think is the more likely scenario.
 

Non-politicians vs politicians: Given that Carson dropped more than Trump rose, and add to that a small loss by Carly Fiorina, The gap between the totals for the politicians and non-politicians showed a rise for the politicians for the second consecutive week. Yet again, I don't trust these numbers completely.

The Dems: The explanation for the drop in None of the Above is the same as above, crazy low levels of N.O.T.A./Undecided from Gravis Marketing. It also shows big gains for Hillary and O'Malley and a small tick down for Sanders. I would not be surprised to see a course correction next week for all those numbers.

And as I just said, more numbers next week.