California Insider

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Sacramento Bee Columnist Daniel Weintraub

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November 01, 2005

Something old, something new

Well if the gov wins three out of four or otherwise does well next week, it's going to be a repudiation to traditional pollsters and a validation of the new, offbeat methods. So far the traditionalists -- Field and PPIC -- have him consistently down and doing worse. The new-fangled polls have him doing better. SurveyUSA uses recorded voices to question voters and very short, snappy questions. Now there is this Stanford poll that uses a scientifically selected sample who give their opinions on-line by filling out a simulated ballot. It also has the governor's slate doing well. Both SurveyUSA and the Stanford outfit polled in the recall, by the way, and both pretty much nailed it.