In a Wednesday an impromptu press conference, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway dismissed President Donald Trump’s tanking poll numbers, contending at one point that coupled with lying about paying their taxes, people also lie to pollsters.
Queuing with reporters on the driveway of the White House, Conway was asked about a new poll out of Iowa that shows Trump nearly neck-and-neck (within one point) with former Vice President Joe Biden — which is quite the turnaround considering that Trump won the state in 2016 by ten points, Mediaite [1] reports.
This prompted one reporter to ask “What does that mean for the president’s reelection?”
In a detailed response, Conway noted that polls have incorrectly predicted outcomes in the past, right along with inaccurately that Trump and Biden are within “close proximity” to each other in swing states and “both of them are under 50 percent.” We’ve included her comments in the video below.
Conway also criticized the makeup of polling samples, noting they usually are targeted at “adults,” “registered voters” or “likely voters” and don’t really address the gray areas in-between.
“I don’t know a billion things about a billion things, but I know polling, and I think we should always look to see who is being polled,” she said. “If it’s adults, even if it’s registered voters, likely voters, we said, for decades as a pollster, you’re really going to want this one, is that the worst way to find out if somebody’s a likely voter is to ask them ‘Are you likely to vote.'”
With a hint of sarcasm she noted:
“Yes and I pay my taxes and I go to church every Wednesday and Sunday, I do sit-ups every morning, vote, I’ll be there,” implying that people lie to pollsters, as well as lying about paying their taxes.
Um, somehow her boss is also implicated in this since he has yet to reveal his tax returns, which are now the subject [2] of a Supreme Court case. Funny how that happens.
And while the example she listed is rather odd, she doesn’t quite explain that isn’t necessarily in Trump’s favor. He tends to do better in the so-called “likely voter” polls than he does in registered voter polls. So there’s that. In a way, her explanation kind of fits in to what former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tweeted [3] on Tuesday — that some voters are too embarrassed to admit they plan to vote for Trump.
All I can really say here folks is “stay tuned.”