The Iowa Polls:Fourth Week of December

 The Dems: Only one poll tracking Iowa has been registered since last week, and it gave good news to O'Malley and Clinton, both taking a few points from Sanders. Overall, the relative positions remain steady, with Clinton holding on to a double digit lead over Sanders, while O'Malley trails far behind, still hoping to get ahead of None of the Above.

The GOP: My standard operating procedure is to track the candidates who are doing better than the None of the Above average, and I will admit to fudging those rules in two cases. I should ignore O'Malley on the Democratic side and should give some credit to Jeb:(, who is now at 5%, slightly above the 4.6% number for None of the Above number for December. Here are my reasons for the inconsistencies.

1. On the Democratic side, there is so little data to track, adding O'Malley to the mix doesn't make the graph any harder to read.

2. Jeb:( is not making a surge, the NotA has taken a plunge. Jeb:( has actually gone down, from 5.5% in November to 5.0% in December, not even half the very weak numbers of The Completely Sane and Honest Ben Carson.

As for the leaders, the news gets better and better for the two de facto front runners, Donald Trump and Ted 'The Snake' Cruz, while Rubio and Carson are slipping slightly.

This will be the last report on the blog in 2015 and on Sunday the 3 of January the weekly reports will begin again. I wish all my readers a Happy New Year and the polling starts to get serious, especially in the first two states to report.

The New Hampshire polls:Fourth Week of December

 The GOP: As December winds down, the big change in this graph is the disappearance of The Completely Sane and Honest Ben Carson and the appearance for the first time of John Kasich, marked in light green. As you can see, he hasn't made a big advance, but is now in fifth place and above None of the Above for the time being. Jeb:( is in sixth and might make an appearance next month if his numbers get a little better. Carson is in seventh now and his only good news is that nobody below him looks primed for a run.

The Dems: Only one new polls since the last time the info was posted and it showed Hillary with a small lead. Sanders still has the lead in the polling average for the month.

Tomorrow: the monthly averages from Iowa polling.

The National Polls:Fourth Week of December

 Non-politicians vs politicians: This week, I start with graph of the sum of Trump/Carson/Fiorina vs. Everybody Else, ignoring the None of the Above. You don't have to be a fan of the original Ghostbusters to see that The Streams Have Crossed. Technically, the non-politicians have the slenderest of leads at 50.1% to 49.9%, but you get the idea. As of now, Donald Trump is THE non-politician. Ben Carson is in fourth place nationally, but he is re-defining the term "campaign in disarray", while Carly Fiorina's numbers are in the Old Dead Animal category.

 The GOP: Here is how I look at this graph.

1. Donald Trump is obviously leading, but I don't know what the ceiling of his upward trend is, or even if the trend is truly still upward.

2. Ted 'The Snake' Cruz has a true upward trend. I can't say that with certainty about anybody else whose numbers are above the None of the Above threshold.

3. The Completely Sane and Honest Ben Carson is still falling, though the rate of change this week was less than worst tumbles this month.

Here's what I know about the stuff I don't show.

1. Chris Christie and Jeb:( are in a flat-footed tie for fifth/sixth place. The Christie camp should spin this as good news. The Jeb:( camp... I have no idea how bad things are there, and I worked at failed start-ups in Silicon Valley back in the day.

The Dems: No real change from last week worth mentioning. I get the feeling Iowa is going to be much more important to the Democratic nomination that it will be to the Republicans, unless Trump takes an absolute pounding.

Tomorrow, the New Hampshire numbers.

The Iowa Polls: Third week of December

 The GOP: Starting with the Republicans in Iowa, so far the most interesting contest. Ted Cruz leads Donald Trump in the polling, but Iowa is a tricky place to poll because likely caucus attendees are very hard to find. With this low turnout, the polls even in the last week before the contest can be way off. That said, Iowa is about energizing your supporters and have a good organization on the ground. Trump had no trouble with the first part, but reporters are saying it is really hard to find Trump organizers. Maybe he's trying some Just In Time hiring practices, or maybe this is just another of his many flaws as a businessman.

Here are the changes in the numbers from the previous December averages.

Cruz: up 1.4 percentage points
Trump: up 1.1 percentage points
Rubio: up 0.1 percentage points
Carson: down 1.1 percentage points
None of the Above: down 1.4 percentage points

As you can see, the sum of these five categories have changed only a little, so there hasn't been much movement in the numbers of the folks not mentioned here. The Completely Sane and Honest Ben Carson is in serious free fall, but so is None of the Above. Jeb:( is now above None of the Above, but only slightly. If he has another good week and NotA stays low, he might get on the graph as his Festivus present.

The Dems: All the candidates went up from last week, taking their votes from the None of the Above voters.

Hillary: up 0.6 percentage points
Bernie: up 0.3 percentage points
None of the Above: down 1.1 percentage points
O'Malley: up 0.2 percentage points

The gap isn't closing for Sanders, but once again, I have to say Iowa is a caucus state and by their nature, they are tough to predict. I have no idea how well organized the two main candidates are in Iowa, but they are pros and I expect they have boots on the ground in sufficient numbers. The big question will be supporter enthusiasm and that means Bernie has a chance to surprise.

More numbers next week.

The New Hampshire polls:Third Week of December

The GOP: The slope graph shows the change in polling averages from November to December, but I am also going to list the change in the December average from week to week.

Trump +1.2
Cruz +1.0
Rubio +0.3
Carson -0.8
Christie +0.4
None of the Above:-1.8

Since I am supposed to be tracking the candidates above the None of the Above threshold, it's time to say goodbye to The Completely Sane and Honest Ben Carson. This chart shows him in fifth, but as of the latest polls, he is now in seventh, trailing Jeb:( and John Kasich. Barring a miracle, his numbers will not be part of the picture next week in New Hampshire, though he does remain in fourth place in Iowa and well ahead of the guys jockeying for fifth.

The Dems: Bernie Sanders had a good week, extending his lead over Hillary.

Sanders +3.0
Clinton +1.0
None of the Above -2.5
O'Malley -1.5

Of course, Iowa comes before New Hampshire and a good showing in the caucuses will effect the campaign coverage at the very least. A view of both races in The Hawkeye State tomorrow.
 

The national polls:Third Week of December

 The GOP: Hanukkah has come and gone and so has the drought of polling data. There were only three polls each in the last week of November and the first week of December, but the last two weeks have had plenty of data and the message is simple.

Tropical Depression Trump is reaching hurricane force and only Ted 'The Snake' Cruz is making any headway.

Politicians vs Non-politicians: This particular graph is meaning less and less as time goes on, as Fiorina is still on a slow slide after her spectacular crash and Carson is still mid-spectacular crash. I think it might make more sense to start tracking Trump vs. The Next Three, because this week for the first time he is out-polling Cruz, Rubio and Carson combined.

(Note: for anyone terrified that sanity cannot prevail, the state level polls in Hew Hampshire and Iowa tell a different story.)

The Dems:  Not nearly as much drama in the national polls for the Democratic nomination, though like the GOP, there is some drama in the polls for the early state races.  As you might guess, all these polls are prior to the debate last night.

Tomorrow: the polls from New Hampshire.

The Iowa Polls: Second week of December

The Dems: Hillary Clinton's undeniable lead in the national polls is not enough for her to be leading in New Hampshire, but in Iowa it's another story. That said, I noticed a pattern in 2011-2012 that as primaries got closer to actually happening, the numbers could change dramatically as more of the electorate would be paying attention. Is this good or bad for Hillary? Let's look at the three numbers we have at the moment.

National polls: Clinton +25.1%
New Hampshire polls: Sanders +4%
Iowa polls: Clinton +15.8%

This small sample size says more scrutiny is not a good thing for Hillary and can give the Sanders fans some hope. As for O'Malley supporters, the numbers right now say... m'eh.

  

The GOP: As anyone paying attention knows, I'm putting up all the data on the declared candidates and None of the Above in the Democratic race, but I am not showing the lesser candidates among the GOP. In Iowa, all the dramatic changes are here, as Trump, Rubio and everyone not mentioned have changed less than a percentage point up or down, while three numbers visible on the chart have made big changes.

Cruz: up 12.2 points
Carson: down 8.4 points
None of the Above: down 2.7 points

The net effect looks like lots of Iowans are changing their minds and their new choice is Ted 'The Snake' Cruz. Of course, Trump is apoplectic about the bad news. I would not put it past Trump to simply buy a few thousand eligible Iowans for some single day payment in the $100 range to boost his numbers, though it will make his true believers feel like saps for showing up for free.

Making people feel like saps is standard operating procedure for Trump, so I don't think he'll lose any sleep over it.

More news next week.