OHNOES!!!!11one in your state
In my mind, SurveyUSA is one of the best polling companies out there, a heretical statement for most political pollsters. SurveyUSA is an independent company that does what we in the business call a "cat poll," in that they call you up, and an automated message asks if you want to take a poll, how old you are, and then, if the election were held today, whether you support Tony Miller or Anne Northup for Congress. So in other words, a cat could knock over the phone and hit enough buttons to respond to the poll, and if not a cat, your 16-year-old kid, an alien, or someone else who's not a registered voter. Conventional pollsters do not support SurveyUSA's methodology.
So it's counterintuitive to think SurveyUSA actually works (and believe you me, we had this response prepped when they wreaked their ugly havoc on Louisville), but these guys apparently get some of the best results of any pollster in America. For starters, the voice recording is usually that of a local personality, usually a newscaster from the sponsoring TV station, so it's a "trusted source," as opposed to one of those weird polls you get where they won't tell you who they're from, but really, really want to know your opinion on the Israel/Palestine situation. Plus, scientifically, the automated voice is a control, as opposed to some schmuck on a headset who might be doing who knows what: as SurveyUSA points out, with live pollsters, even if not intentionally skewing the process (though they might), they might read too fast or too slow, they might mispronounce words, they might be too loud, they might change their tone as they keep calling people and getting tired, etc. etc. etc. While it's true that people could make stuff up taking a cat poll, apparently not enough of them do to make a SurveyUSA poll any less valuable than the industry standard headset poll. Finally, since it's automated, it's a hell of a lot cheaper. Frankly I don't understand why more candidates don't try SurveyUSA, or why polling firms don't offer an automated option for cash-strapped campaigns.
So why am I fellating SurveyUSA? Because they just proved that my state hates Bush more than yours does. Idaho, we're all very disappointed.
Incidentally, I wish I could quote from the National Journal interview with SurveyUSA from last November or December, but unfortunately I have access to neither National Journal nor Nexis. I trust that if someone has a password for either, they will not contact me at the email address at the top of the screen.