Left In Lowell

So, I’m poking around the intertubes and I find a Blue Mass Group blog critiquing the work of the various pollsters and their endeavors gauging public sentiment, re: Warren/Brown Senate race.

Guess who was figured as the worst at electoral prognostication. Yep. Our very own UMass Lowell’s Public Opinion Center.

UMass/Boston Herald: Brown +1. Worst of the lot, and using recent data, no less: 10/31-11/3. This poll skewed heavily Brown in September also, showing Brown up 4 when every other poll except Rasmussen’s tie showed Warren with a lead. I’m guessing there was a problem with their overall voter sample weighting, their “7-item turnout scale” likely voter methodology, or both.

I’m not much of a “poll troll,” meaning one who obsesses over the results and methodology employed. I will take a gander at poll aggregators like the now popular, Nate Silver. I figure the poll trends will account for error in methods and data “noise.” So, you won’t find me jumping to the defense or assault of UMass Lowell.

I do, for some strange reason, want this polling group to be the best around. If only because they hang their shingle in our hometown.