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PPP's final poll of the special election in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District finds a race that's too close to call, with Republican Mark Sanford leading Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch 47-46. The 1 point lead for Sanford represents a 10 point reversal from PPP's poll of the race two weeks ago, when Colbert Busch led by 9 points at 50-41. Sanford has gotten back into the race by nationalizing it and painting Colbert Busch as a liberal. A plurality of voters in the district- 47%- say they think Colbert Busch is a liberal compared to 43% who characterize her as...

Sen. Mark Begich, a Democrat in Republican-leaning Alaska, is sure to be targeted by Republicans in 2014, his seat a “must” pickup if the GOP hopes to retake control of Congress’ upper chamber. But Begich is showing surprising strength and popularity, according to a new survey of the 49th State by Public Policy Polling. He has a 49 percent job approval rating, with only 39 percent disapproving of the job he’s doing. And Begich leads a bevy of likely Republican challengers. Sarah Palin Sarah Palin: The Tea Party loves her, but approval ratings have plummeted back in Alaska. He has...

New PPP polls both nationally and in Iowa find Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton leading the way for their party's respective 2016 nominations, with Clinton leading Rubio by 8 points in a hypothetical head to head.For the third month in a row in our national 2016 GOP tracking Rubio leads the way. He's at 22% to 15% for Paul Ryan, 13% each for Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, 11% for Mike Huckabee, 10% for Rand Paul, 4% for Bobby Jindal, 3% for Rick Perry, and 1% for Susana Martinez. Rubio continues to lead based on his appeal to the...

Fox News Channel is the most trusted—and the least trusted—news network in the nation, according to a new survey, illustrating the divisive and partisan nature of politics across the nation at the moment. … Fox News, known for being the only major network that doesn’t have a liberal slant, was both the “least trusted” and “most trusted” among those polled by Public Policy Polling in its annual “TV News Trust Poll.” … The contradictory findings, which polled 800 people, were the result of two separate questions. In the first poll question, participants were given a list of networks, including Fox...

PPP's final polls in Ohio and Virginia find Barack Obama ahead in both states, 52/47 in Ohio and 51/47 in Virginia. PPP has conducted four polls in each of these states over the last three weeks and has found an average lead of 3.75 points for Obama in Ohio and an average advantage of 3.5 points for him in Virginia. In Ohio Obama's already built up a large lead during the early voting period. He's up 60/39 with those who already cast their ballots. Romney's ahead 51/48 with people who plan to vote on election day but he's going to...

Public Policy Polling says Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill hold a narrow 4-point lead over Rep. Todd Akin in the 2012 campaign's closing days. She's at 48%, Akin at 44% in a poll of 835 likely voters Nov. 2 and Nov. 3. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.4%.

I saw this poll late last night, long after getting back from walking with my granddaughters on Halloween, trick or treating in their neighborhood. At first, I thought this new poll from PPP in Virginia was a trick, but by this morning, I considered it more of a treat: A new Public Policy Polling survey in Virginia, conducted on behalf of Health Care for America Now, finds Barack Obama leading Mitt Romney 49-46. PPP has conducted 5 Virginia polls during the month of October and found Obama leading in every single one, by an average margin of 2.8 points.Key findings...

No wonder David Axelrod thinks that Barack Obama can win Ohio without winning independents. According to the latest Buckeye State poll from PPP, they only need an extra five points from non-Democrats to get a majority: **** A new Public Policy Polling survey in Ohio, conducted on behalf of Health Care for America Now, finds Barack Obama leading Mitt Romney 50-45. **** Oh, let’s just skip the rest of the preliminaries and go right to the sample. The D/R/I on this poll is a ridiculous 45/36/19 that assumes Democrats will add six points to their 2008 turnout while independents largely...

Mitt Romney leads President Barack Obama by a single point in today's Public Policy Polling daily tracking survey, but the numbers inside the poll display a clearly worse picture for the president. Romney's one-point lead is a slight increase from Saturday, when the candidates were tied. But a deep dive into the numbers paint the picture of a president whose approval is on the decline and is struggling to pick up votes with Independents. Consider the following numbers: * Obama's approval-to-disapproval rating sits at just 44-52, which is actually worse than Gallup's tracking on Saturday. * Obama is losing the...

PPP (D) National Tracking Poll: R 49%, 0 48% - 0 job approval at 44%!!

President Obama leads Mitt Romney in the critical battleground state of Virginia, according to a survey released Thursday from Public Policy Polling. Obama takes 51 percent support over Romney at 46. The survey was conducted on the Tuesday and Wednesday following Monday’s third and final presidential debate. Obama led the same poll from last weekend, 49-47, over Romney. The poll could be an outlier — according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Obama and Romney are tied at 48 in Virginia. Obama is buoyed in the poll by a wide gender gap. Women favored Obama 57-41 over Romney, while men...

The left-leaning Public Policy Polling does regular weekly polling for the extreme left-leaning Daily Kos and SEIU, and the numbers this morning have probably stopped the hearts of leftists everywhere. Nationally, the poll shows Romney up four, 50-46%. In the swing states, the news is just as bad with Romney up three, 50-47%. In this particular poll, the movement towards Romney nationally is a net gain of two points. In the swing states, Romney overcame a four-point deficit. Two weeks ago he was losing to Obama, 50-46%. That's a seven-point shift. Daily Kos released the daily numbers in this three-day...

That same poll shows Romney up by five among independents. And yet this poll has a D+4 sample. That might be a little high, but it's not as outrageous as some of the others. So how is this possible? Because to me, the numbers don't add up. Does this have something to do with the early Ohio voting that shows Obama ahead 2-1? Yet, I've also read that Romney leads by five or six among likely voters. And how does all this jibe with the early voting turnout numbers we've seen on this board = that show a depressed Dem...

PPP, a Democratic polling outfit, has long been viewed by suspicion by not only conservatives but by independent, credible pollsters. Now there is all the more reason to discount its “polling” as shoddy partisanship. I spoke by phone today with Wisconsin voter Dave Summers, who lives in the Madison area. He told me, “I got a survey. I don’t normally answer these calls, but I did [this time]. I started out pretty normal — President, Senate.” However, he said it then got weirder. The automatic survey asked if he had a favorable or unfavorable impression of Sean Hannity and Tucker...

PPP's newest Virginia poll finds Barack Obama leading by 5 points, 51- 46. Obama's lead is unchanged from a month ago when we found him leading 50-45 in the state. He may not be seeing a bump from the convention in the state at this point, but he was in a pretty good position to begin with. Virginia continues to look like it may be something of a firewall state for Obama. PPP has now polled it 9 times this cycle, and President Obama has led by at least 4 points on all 9 of the polls. He's been ahead...

At one minute past midnight on Sept. 16, a state landmark known by millions of motorists will go dark. Employees will say their goodbyes before the doors and off-ramps are barricaded at Maryland House, the Interstate 95 travel plaza in Harford County that opened in 1963. Within weeks, wrecking crews will level the neo-Georgian brick structure to make way for a new building, the flagship of an ambitious public-private partnership valued at a half-billion dollars. The same night, the smaller Chesapeake House in Cecil County will change as new vendors replace old ones. In a year, it too will come...

I asked a top Romney adviser what he makes of reports that the Romney campaign knows it’s losing and that Ohio is slipping out of reach (PPP has a new poll with Obama at 50 in the state):“It’s horses**t. Nobody in Boston thinks we’re going to lose. We’re in a tight race. We had a 4-5 point bounce after our convention and it evaporated when they had theirs. Now they have a 4-5 bounce. It’s going evaporate in September. We feel good about the map. We’re up with advertising in Wisconsin and I think North Carolina is going to come...

PPP's first post-conventions poll in Ohio finds Barack Obama with a 5 point lead over Mitt Romney, 50-45. This is the largest lead PPP has found for Obama in an Ohio poll since early May. Last month Obama led 48-45. Both candidates have seen their images improve with Ohio voters in the wake of the conventions. Obama now breaks even in his approval rating at 48%, after being under water with 46% of voters approving and 51% disapproving of him a month ago. Romney's numbers are up from a 41/52 favorability rating a month ago as well, but he still...

Well, what do you know --- maybe there's some hope for Massachusetts after all. Democratic pollster PPP applied a likely-voter test for the first time in the Bay State, and discovers that incumbent Republican Senator Scott Brown has a small but significant lead over his Democratic challenger, Elizabeth Warren. The bad news? Brown didn't build that lead all by himself: Scott Brown has returned to the lead in the crucial Massachusetts Senate race. The two were tied at 46% in PPPÂ’s late June poll, but in the firmÂ’s first test of likely voters in this fallÂ’s election, Brown tops Elizabeth...

In a late summer surge, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown has jumped to a 5 point lead in a new poll in his race for re-election. Public Policy Polling places Brown in the lead over his Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren 49-44 percent. This is the same poll that placed Warren ahead by 5 points in March.

Philip Klein �@philipaklein Akin citing PPP poll

Since PPP decided it can't help itself, I've done you all a service. I went through their ridiculous R+9 sample and ONLY changed the D/R/I proportions to match previous elections, and an even turnout. With R+9, PPP's headline screams Akin up by 1. It is an obvious, sick ploy to get this delusional Bio101 flunkie to stay in and cost us a seat. Here are the real numbers: If turnout in November matches 2008 (it won't): McCaskill 49.25% Akin 39% (this is a D+6 turnout model) If turnout in November is even, an incredible feat for the GOP considering heavy...

What to think of the latest PPP poll in Wisconsin? One one hand, a narrow lead within the margin of error on the day before an election might signal a slight and final shift in momentum in Tom Barrett's favor. On the other, PPP is a Democratic pollster who might be looking for the best possible take on the race ... and having the Democrat down three as a best case would be a positive for supporters of Scott Walker. The Hill reports on the results: A new poll finds Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker with a narrowed lead over...

Raleigh, N.C. – When PPP last polled Ohio a little over four months ago, Mitt Romney trailed President Obama by seven points. He has not made up any ground since, and the apparent establishment choice for his running mate, the state’s freshman Sen. Rob Portman, would not help him to catch up much.

Santorum Catches Romney in GOP Race Rick Santorum’s support among Tea Party Republicans and white evangelicals is surging, and he now has pulled into a virtual tie with Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. In polling conducted Feb. 8-12, 30% of Republican and Republican leaning registered voters favor Santorum while 28% favor Romney. As recently as a month ago, Romney held a 31% to 14% advantage over Santorum among all GOP voters. Santorum is now the clear favorite of Republican and GOP-leaning voters who agree with the Tea Party, as well as white evangelical Republicans. Currently,...

Rick Santorum's taken a large lead in Michigan's upcoming Republican primary. He's at 39% to 24% for Mitt Romney, 12% for Ron Paul, and 11% for Newt Gingrich. Santorum's rise is attributable to two major factors: his own personal popularity (a stellar 67/23 favorability) and GOP voters increasingly souring on Gingrich. Santorum's becoming something closer and closer to a consensus conservative candidate as Gingrich bleeds support. Santorum's winning an outright majority of the Tea Party vote with 53% to 22% for Romney and 10% for Gingrich. He comes close to one with Evangelicals as well at 48% to 20% for...

Santorum Now Leads Romney in Michigan February 11th, 2012 | Author: Ben Hart Rick Santorum now leads Mitt Romney in Michigan — the state where Mitt’s dad was governor, according to a tweet by Public Policy Polling. The PPP tweet says: “Santorum topping Romney on the first night of our Michigan poll. This may be the biggest surge yet.”

Riding a wave of momentum from his trio of victories on Tuesday Rick Santorum has opened up a wide lead in PPP's newest national poll. He's at 38% to 23% for Mitt Romney, 17% for Newt Gingrich, and 13% for Ron Paul. Part of the reason for Santorum's surge is his own high level of popularity. 64% of voters see him favorably to only 22% with a negative one. But the other, and maybe more important, reason is that Republicans are significantly souring on both Romney and Gingrich. Romney's favorability is barely above water at 44/43, representing a 23 point...

PublicPolicyPolling@ppppollsReply Retweet Favorite · Open Missouri is Santorum 45, Romney 32, Paul 19

PublicPolicyPolling@ppppollsReply Retweet Favorite · Open Minnesota is Santorum 33, Romney 24, Gingrich 22, Paul 20. 35% still say they could change their minds though...

The multimillion-dollar contract to turn Maryland's travel plazas on Interstate 95 over to an out-of-state company is being challenged by a Bethesda-based firm that says the bidding process favored the eventual winner. HMSHost has filed a protest with the Maryland Transportation Authority, saying that bid specifications to replace the Maryland House and Chesapeake House were too vague and that Areas USA, a Florida company, was the only bidder allowed to sweeten its offer. "This is like a kick in the gut and we're trying to get our breath back," said Michael Jones, the HMSHost vice president who put the bid...

Maryland has taken the first step toward replacing its two travel plazas on Interstate 95 north of Baltimore with expansive, airy welcome centers filled with amenities and operated by a company with years of experience serving travelers. The two-year, $56 million project to rebuild Maryland House and Chesapeake House as a public-private partnership with Areas USA was approved Monday by the Maryland Transportation Authority board. The deal requires the approval of the Board of Public Works next month and review by the General Assembly. The state would retain ownership and oversight of the plazas, while Areas USA would operate and...

PPP's first post-South Carolina poll in Florida finds Newt Gingrich with a small lead. He's at 38% to 33% for Mitt Romney, 13% for Rick Santorum, and 10% for Ron Paul. Gingrich has gained 12 points since a PPP poll conducted in Florida a week ago. Romney has dropped 8 points. Paul and Santorum have pretty much remained in place. Their favorability numbers show similar trendlines. Gingrich's has increased 8 points from +15 (51/36) to +23 (57/34). Meanwhile Romney's has declined 13 points from +44 (68/24) to +31 (61/30). Here's the good news for Gingrich in this poll:

Newt Gingrich heads into South Carolina election day as the clear front runner in the state: he's now polling at 37% to 28% for Mitt Romney, 16% for Rick Santorum, and 14% for Ron Paul. Gingrich's lead has actually increased in the wake of his ex-wife's controversial interview with ABC. Although one night poll results should always be interpreted with caution, he led the final night of the field period by a 40-26 margin. One thing that continues to work to his advantage are the debates. 60% of primary voters report having watched the one last night, and Gingrich has...

Thursday may have been one of the most eventful days of the Republican campaign so far, but the state of the race in South Carolina didn't change much. Newt Gingrich continues to lead Mitt Romney by 6 points, 35-29, with Ron Paul and Rick Santorum each tied for third at 15%. Revelations from the Marianne Gingrich interview haven't taken a toll on Newt's image yet. For the first time in our South Carolina tracking this month his favorability is better than Romney's, with 53% of voters holding a positive opinion of him compared to 51% for his chief competitor. Gingrich's...

Something to whet your appetite for tonight’s Thunderdome debate. Could Newtmentum really have shot him to a six-point lead after he trailed Romney by double digits just a few days ago? Note that PPP’s data comes from a one-day snapshot, which means a smaller-than-usual sample, which in turn means a larger-than-usual margin of error of five points. Newt’s may very well be leading right now, but … by six?Even so, as I write this, InTrade gives him a 42.5 percent chance of winning on Saturday. After Perry’s endorsement, Palin’s quasi-endorsement, and Santorum’s fade, who wants to bet against him? This...

PPP's first national poll of 2012 finds Barack Obama with his best standing against Mitt Romney since last May, right after the killing of Osama bin Laden. Obama leads Romney 49-44. It's not as if Obama's suddenly become popular. He remains under water with 47% of voters approving of him to 50% who disapprove. Romney's even less popular, with only 35% rating him favorably while 53% have a negative opinion of him. Over the last month Romney's seen his negatives with independents rise from 46% to 54%, suggesting that the things he has to say and do to win the...

Raleigh, N.C. – The Republican caucus in Iowa is headed for a photo finish, with the three leading contenders all within two points of each other. Ron Paul is at 20%, Mitt Romney at 19%, and Rick Santorum at 18%. Rounding out the field are Newt Gingrich at 14%, Rick Perry at 10%, Michele Bachmann at 8%, Jon Huntsman at 4%, and Buddy Roemer at 2%.

Without another Ann Selzer Iowa poll until the first of the year, the political class is now largely analyzing the caucuses through robo polls, internal campaign surveys and good old-fashioned anecdotal reporting.It's the first of these that gets the most attention - and sparks the most controversy.After the Democratic-aligned PPP - which has gotten some important races right -- posted their latest Iowa survey last night showing Ron Paul staking out a lead, the pushback quickly surfaced.At issue: whether PPP's sample is too heavy on Democrats and independents and is therefore skewing the results to make Paul seem stronger. (Any...

It's been a bad week for Newt Gingrich in our early state Republican polling, but we still find him with a good sized lead nationally. He's at 35% to 22% for Mitt Romney, 11% for Ron Paul, 7% for Michele Bachmann, 6% for Rick Perry, 4% for Rick Santorum, 3% for Jon Huntsman, and 1% for Gary Johnson. On the surface that's good news for Gingrich but looking under the hood it's more bad news to some extent. We haven't done a national poll in 5 weeks, too long ago to make a good comparison, but on 6 state polls...

I’ve been telling people PPP’s polling Iowa was making nonsense predictions. The pollster has doubled down. I’m going way out on a limb here, and if the actual results refudiate what I’m saying then I’m going to have to take some taunting, but I just don’t see how this poll remotely reflects reality, and I’m flatly saying it’s not predictive of the caucus results. The facts: 597 LVs, no mention of mobile handling. MoE 4. The results of this poll are going to get huge play. While they predict less for Mitt Romney than the apparent Rasmussen outlier for Romney,...

Before you put too much stock in the most recent PPP poll, you may want to review this April 2011 Hill article:

Ron Paul, the once-forgotten presidential candidate, is picking up steam in Iowa and now appears poised to overtake frontrunner Newt Gingrich, according to a new survey released today from the left-leaning Public Policy Polling. The poll finds support for Gingrich has slipped to 22%, with Ron Paul just behind with 21%. Mitt Romney trails in third place with 16%. That's a five-point drop in favorability for Gingrich, who has raced to the top of the Republican presidential field over the past month. PPP found Gingrich's favorability numbers have fallen 19 points over the past week. Meanwhile, support for Paul is...

Pizza magnate Herman Cain leads the latest Public Policy Polling polls in Maine and North Carolina. In North Carolina, Cain pulled in 30 percent of the votes. In Maine, Cain garnered 29 percent of the votes. Cain’s poll performances may be impacted by a POLITICO report that revealed that the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO faced sexual harassment allegations in the 1990s. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich took second place in the latest North Carolina PPP poll with 22 percent of the votes. In Maine, Gingrich finished in third place with 18 percent of the votes. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney...

Herman Cain's had a bad couple of news days that may or may not ultimately throttle his candidacy, but in our polling over the weekend he was continuing to fly high. In North Carolina, which a month ago was the first state we found him leading in, he'd built on his support over the last four weeks. And in Maine he held a small advantage over Mitt Romney, showing the ability to challenge Romney even on his home New England turf. In North Carolina Cain led with 30% to 22% for Newt Gingrich, 19% for Mitt Romney, 10% for Rick...

Businessman Herman Cain has risen to the top of a national poll of Republican primary voters, upending the GOP field yet again this cycle. Cain has the support of 30 percent of Republicans in the Public Policy Polling survey, trailed by Mitt Romney at 22 percent, Newt Gingrich at 15 percent, and Rick Perry at 14 percent. Cain is also the second choice of 24 percent of those polled — the highest of any candidate. In a two-person race, Romney would lead Perry 48-38, Cain would lead Romney 48-36, and Cain would destroy Perry 55-27. The poll was conducted before...

Rick Perry's led the Republican field in every Southern state that we've polled since he entered the Presidential race...until now. Mitt Romney continues to lead the way in Florida with 30% to 24% for Perry, 10% for Gingrich, 8% for Ron Paul, 7% for Herman Cain, 6% for Michele Bachmann, 3% for Jon Huntsman, 2% for Rick Santorum, and 1% for Gary Johnson.Perry had a poor debate performance in Florida Thursday night and our results suggest that the negative coverage he received from that did hurt him some in the state. We started this poll on Thursday night before the...

US Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry regularly touts his successes during his three terms as Texas Governor, but in Texas, there's not too much satisfaction with the work he has done, according to a new poll. The poll by Public Policy Polling showed that only 45 percent of the state's voters approve of Perry's job performance, while 48 percent say they don't approve, Politico reports. It, however, said that a majority of Texans supported Perry over US President Barack Obama. Perry leads Obama with 51 percent support to the President's 44 percent. The survey of 569 Texas voters was taken...

Mitt Romney has the lead in PPP's first Iowa poll since Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump exited the race, but with six different candidates polling in double digits it's clear this thing is wide open. Romney polls at 21%. Sarah Palin and Herman Cain are tied for second at 15%. Newt Gingrich is 4th with 12%, Michele Bachmann 5th with 11%, Tim Pawlenty 6th with 10%, Ron Paul 7th with 8%, and Jon Huntsman 8th with 0% (only one respondent to the poll picked him.) 8% said they supported someone else or were undecided. Cain and Palin have been the...

Herman Cain’s scrappy campaign for the GOP presidential nomination is making an impression. From Public Policy Polling of North Carolina: Mitt Romney has the lead in PPP’s first Iowa poll since Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump exited the race, but with six different candidates polling in double digits it’s clear this thing is wide open. Romney polls at 21%. Sarah Palin and Herman Cain are tied for second at 15%. Newt Gingrich is 4th with 12%, Michele Bachmann 5th with 11%, Tim Pawlenty 6th with 10%, Ron Paul 7th with 8%, and Jon Huntsman 8th with 0% (only one respondent...