How The Bradley Effect Blew Up The New Hampshire Polling

Townhall.com ^ | January 11, 2008 | John Hawkins

[Kaslin]

There's still a lot of debate about what went wrong with the polling in New Hampshire. Personally? With the benefit of hindsight, I think that it's clearly, unequivocally the Bradley Effect at work.

Let's cover the bases on why I think that's so.

First of all, the polling on the Republican side was solid and did a good job of reflecting the actual results. So, there was obviously a factor on the Democratic side that was not in play with the Republicans.

Additionally, the polling definitely pointed towards a Barack Obama victory. There were 22 polls done in the last 3 days before the election, 20 of which had Obama winning, along with 1 tie, and 1 small Clinton victory. Moreover, there were 4 polls that actually included data from the last day before the election and Obama won them by 5, 7, 9, and 13 points respectively. If you compare those polls to the polls that included data from the two previous days only, Barack's margin of victory actually appeared to be getting LARGER. (Average victory of 8.5% on the 4 polls that included Monday data, and a 7% average victory on the 5 polls that included only Saturday and Sunday data).

So, did some event like Hillary crying or those radio stunt people holding up signs that said "Iron my shirt" cause a huge shift towards Hillary at the last minute? No, because it would have been reflected in the polling if that were the case.

Could it be that there were nefarious people at Diebold rigging the election as many left wing bloggers have already speculated? One, there's no evidence of that. Two, weren't these same conspiracy theorists claiming that Diebold worked for the GOP in the 2000 and 2004 elections? So now, Diebold takes orders from Hillary Clinton? Conservatives should file that information away and make sure to bring it up if and when the same people claim that the 2008 elections are rigged.

Could it be that Hillary just did a better job of getting out the vote? She may have, but a fantastic GOTV effort is still probably only worth a point or three at most. So, if a race is genuinely tied and one side has a much better GOTV operation, it may enable them to pull it out, but it won't overcome a 7-8 point advantage.

Well, what about a large block of undecided voters suddenly choosing to vote Hillary at the very last minute? Voters might break one way or the other as a race draws to a close, but they won't break hard or fast enough to cause that big of a shift. Moreover, it's difficult to believe that we didn't see more movement in the final polls if voters really were strongly ralling towards Hillary.

So, what's left? The best explanation is the Bradley Effect.

What's the Bradley Effect? The general idea is that whites lie to pollsters and falsely claim that they're undecided or voting for a black candidate because they're afraid that they'll be thought of as racists if they tell the truth. The effect is named for Tom Bradley, but it has also appeared in high profile races featuring Harvey Gantt and Doug Wilder, both of whom produced results at the ballot box that were too far apart from the polling data to explain with conventional wisdom.

One thing that people seem to misunderstand about the Bradley Effect is that it's not about racism per se. People aren't lying to pollsters because they're racists; they're lying to pollsters because they fear that they will be labeled as racists. That's not the same thing, although you wouldn't know it from some of the liberal commentary on the Bradley Effect.

Does the Bradley Effect happen in every election that features a minority candidate? No, it doesn't. For example, there was no Bradley Effect in the Tennessee Senate race in 2006, which featured Harold Ford running on the Democratic ticket.

However, what you have to consider is that New Hampshire was set up perfectly to create a Bradley Effect.

Why?

Well, consider the circumstances: Republicans probably wouldn't falsely claim that they're voting for Barack Obama because they're expected to vote for the Republican anyway. But, this was a primary; so there were no Republicans voting in the Democratic race. Minorities also aren't going to worry about being perceived as racist, but New Hampshire is almost 96% white, so there were very few minorities participating.

Next, which group of people do you think would be most likely to lie to a pollster and say they're supporting a black candidate out of fear of being perceived as racist? You'd have to think that would be white liberals, which probably describes the majority of voters in the New Hampshire primary.

Additionally, consider that in this case, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have almost identical views on the issues. So, you have Barack Obama, who's young, dynamic, loved by the media, and the first black man with a legitimate chance to be President, running against a corrupt, unexciting, inauthentic, establishment candidate like Hillary Clinton. You'd have to think that would add a little extra pressure on these white, New Hampshire liberals to say that they were voting for Obama, even if they really supported Hillary.

Now, you may say: "Gee, well why didn't the Bradley Effect kick in during the Iowa caucus?" Remember, in Iowa, it was a caucus so everyone could see how other people were voting. If anything, because it was public, it may have actually helped Obama's numbers there.

Along similar lines, you may wonder how much of an impact the Bradley Effect will have in Nevada and South Carolina? The answer: it probably won't be as big a factor in either of those two states.

Why? First off, neither of those states is as liberal as New Hampshire. Democrats in both of those states tend to be more moderate, hence less politically correct, and less concerned about appearing "racist." Moreover, those states just aren't as white at New Hampshire. South Carolina is 68.5% white and Nevada is 81.7% white. More minority voters mean more people who don't have to be concerned about being called racist for voting against Barack Obama. Does that mean the Bradley Effect will disappear in those states? Probably not entirely, but it will likely be considerably smaller.

Long story short, in hindsight, the Bradley Effect is probably the best explanation of why the polls were off so badly in New Hampshire.

[IrishMike]

Let’s see,

Iowa - 3% minority .... Obama wins

New Hampshire - 10% voters registered on voting day
no residency requirements ..... Hildabeast wins

Racism or voter fraud ?
You be the judge

[UCFRoadWarrior]

I dont buy this Bradley effect.

There is too much anecdotal evidence showing that Hillary was bringing in out of staters to vote.

NH is a liberal state, so whites there would be more honest in voting for a black candidate

I think what we have here is the “Hillary Effect”....media refusing to call Hillary a cheater

[Hardastarboard]

Could it be that there were nefarious people at Diebold rigging the election as many left wing bloggers have already speculated? One, there's no evidence of that. Two, weren't these same conspiracy theorists claiming that Diebold worked for the GOP in the 2000 and 2004 elections? So now, Diebold takes orders from Hillary Clinton?

Mr. Hawkins unfortunately doesn't understand the nature of political psychosis. There are many (see my tagline for further information) who are crazy enough to believe that Hillary is a closet Republican, or at least a right-winger.

She was raised in a Republican home, after all, and she did vote for the war. Even if the nut cases don't believe she's actually a Republican, it's not a huge leap for them to believe that Diebold will sell its services to the highest bidder, and that Hillary was the highest bidder. Or, as an alternate theory, that the Republicans paid Diebold for Hillary's win because that's who they want to face in the general election.

See how easy this game is to play? I'll bet that with enough alcohol, crystal meth, Mary Jane, or just huffing paint out of a sock, you, too could come up with an explanation worthy of DU or the DailyKos.

[Always Right]

Finally a theory I agree with. Democrats are closet racists.

[Captain Rhino]

Well, if we accept the author’s premise, doesn’t the liberal, lying, “lily whiteness” of New Hampshire argue for demoting it from first place in the primary state queue because of a permanent built-in bias that is not reflective of the rest of the country???

Hmmmm???

[Always Right]

NH is a liberal state, so whites there would be more honest in voting for a black candidate

You are making a bad assumption that liberals aren't racists. The fact is, liberals are the biggest racists there are.

[kittymyrib]

Maybe we’ll see a older white woman tooling down a NH highway with a “Racist for Hillary!” bumper sticker on her Prius.

[Kaslin]

They sure are, but the MSM is ignoring that

[saganite]

Well, what he said-—or Hillary cheated. Let me think about it.

[Kaslin]

You know it makes me wonder when people can register on voting day.

Tennessee is one of the February 5th Super Tuesday states. Our early voting starts next Wedneday, January 16, and ends January 31. Registration ended Last Tuesday January 8th So if you have not registered by then you are out of luck

[Past Your Eyes]

"NH is a liberal state"

How it pains me to read that. But, unfortunately, I have to say that this once great state of mine is now no longer great and I can not refute those words.

[Kaslin]

You are making a bad assumption that liberals aren't racists. The fact is, liberals are the biggest racists there are.

You can say that again, and one needs only to take a look in this opinion journal editorial

The racist history the Democratic Party wants you to forget

[FReepaholic]

...there was obviously a factor on the Democratic side that was not in play with the Republicans....

True and that factor is: they cheat.

Hitlery bussed in voters from out of state. They weren't around for the pre-election polls.

[Alberta's Child]

NH is a liberal state, so whites there would be more honest in voting for a black candidate.

I don't think this is true at all.

I once had a black guy who grew up in Alabama in the bad old pre-Civil Rights days tell me that white liberals in the Northeast are more racist than anyone from his home town.

[gridlock]

For the polls to be accurate, they would have had to poll all the Democrats in Massachusetts as well!

[N. Theknow]

Bradley Effect?

Would that be Bradley Bus Lines?

[Kozak]

“Let’s see,

Iowa - 3% minority .... Obama wins

New Hampshire - 10% voters registered on voting day
no residency requirements ..... Hildabeast wins

Racism or voter fraud ?
You be the judge”

Except at the Iowa caucus, you had to stand PUBLICLY in the corner of the candidate you supported. Whereas in New Hampshire you got to vote in a nice private voting booth.
By the way this will be a factor in the general election if the Rats nominate Obama. Lots of people who will make a big show of supporting him until they pull the curtain of the voting booth.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I had speculated about exactly the same thing myself. And in Iowa where votes are not secret, lib-er-als will make a show of voting for a black.

It reminds me of the old (circa 1965) New Yorker cartoon. Two guys sitting at a bar, one says to the other, "You're not a liberal, I'm a liberal. I want a woman for president who's both a Negro and a Jew." (Polite people called the coloreds "Negroes" back then.)

[tanknetter]

Just another angry Liberal with a racial axe to grind seeing what exactly fits all his preconceive notions, biases and insecurities.

The reason for the disparity was probably GOTV. Not just bussing in people from Mass, but also the fact that modern GOTV methods happen at such a granular level that current (old) polling methods can't adequately capture what's really happening.

This guy obviously doesn't remember Ohio during the 2004 general election. The Kerry Campaign thought they had the state, and therefore the election, in the bag. Bob "Seven Time Loser" Shrum was calling Kerry "Mr. President". Then they lost the state by 30,000 votes because Karl Rove had put together a statistics-driven GOTV effort that got people to the voting polls in much greater numbers than the public opinion polls had predicted.