Word: wirthlin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...single exception to these general findings was the judgment drawn by the Reagan campaign's own elaborate poll ing operation, run by Richard Wirthlin, who claims that Reagan had a consistent five-to seven-point lead throughout the last two weeks of the campaign...
...Harris organization, which polled throughout the weekend and on Monday, showed Reagan gaining points right up to Election Day. By Monday night, according to Harris Executive Vice President David Neft, an unpublished Harris survey had Reagan six points ahead of Carter. Others picked up the trend too, and Wirthlin showed a widening gap through the weekend until Monday night when he, like Caddell, pegged the margin at about ten points in Reagan's favor. The Gallup survey, which eleven days before the election had Carter ahead by three points, found Reagan moving from...
...although there is agreement on the fact that the gap widened at the end, no one except Caddell and Wirthlin came close to calling the margin. The Harris organization, which is claiming great credit for doing better than other public polls, was four points off Reagan's actual voting percentage, the largest error factor it has ever had in a presidential election. Gallup not only also missed the winner's voting percentage by four points but further erred by saying that Reagan was ahead by a margin of only three points. The margin was, says George Gallup...
Looking for explanations of what went wrong, Wirthlin believes that the other pollsters erred by estimating that there would be more Democrats in the final body of voters than there turned out to be. He also criticizes the others for asking the key presidential-choice question first instead of last, after asking about issues and impres sions of the candidates. This, he insists, produced a pro-Carter bias...
Political Consultant Stuart Spencer is returning to private business in California, but is expected to retain a chair in Reagan's kitchen Cabinet. So is Richard Wirthlin, Reagan's talented pollster. Also likely to be called on for political advice is Nevada Senator Paul Laxalt, who is a close friend. Three women are slated for Cabinet or sub-Cabinet positions. Two are Republicans: Anne Armstrong, former co-chairman of the G.O.P. National Committee and Ambassador to Britain; and Elizabeth Dole, wife of Senator Robert Dole and a former member of the Federal Trade Commission. The Democrat is Jeane...