Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) strongly believes Democrats are leading the polls virtually nationwide and fears that issues with polling methodology are skewing those that show Republicans gaining the lead — an issue he learned about from People magazine.
Reid addressed the findings of a new Pew poll that found that most Americans support the Republican candidate in their congressional races during a Senate briefing Tuesday.
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“We’re ahead virtually all over the country,” the Nevada Democrat said. “I don’t need to run through the states with you, but, we’re doing OK.”
While many surveys — including Pew’s — indicate Republicans have a good chance of winning back the Senate and retaining the House, Reid pointed to what he said was unreliable polling because pollsters reach voters through landlines instead of cell phones.
“I read in, I think it was People magazine — one of my chief reading guides — that about 40 percent of the people no longer have landlines,” he said. “You know what they said they do? They mathematically calculate what they think the answers would be if they got through to those people. I’d rather have my methods than theirs.”
The new Pew poll showed Democrats losing significant ground to their Republican opponents in the upcoming November elections. Forty-seven percent of voters said they support the Republican-leaning candidate running in their district in the midterms, compared to 43 percent who support the Democratic candidate.
Additionally, 65 percent hoped to see the next president offer different policies and programs from President Barack Obama.
