FiveThirtyEight...

[pfeiffer]

...interesting update.

[link:https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/national-polls-and-state-polls-show-pretty-much-the-same-thing/|

And this:

Overall, among the nine Democrats who have qualified so far for this month’s debate, the correlation between national polls and early state polls (weighted by the number of Democratic voters in each state) is .99, or nearly perfect. It seems like perceptions to the contrary derive from ignoring South Carolina (a strong state for Biden) and Nevada (strong for Biden and also Sanders’s strongest early state) and their more diverse and moderate electorates at the expense of white and liberal voters in Iowa and New Hampshire.

[Thekaspervote]

1. One has to ask oneself why?! NH & IA... not representative of the country

Thx for posting

[ritapria]

2. Jimmy Carter's win in Iowa in 1976 put the state on the political map

[BannonsLiver]

3. So what?

[boomer_wv]

4. Why?

Why do we need a long primary season? We should just have a national election day and every state vote at once. Why do Iowa and NH get all of this cash thrown their way?

Our completely broken farm subsidy program is probably very related to having Iowa with such a disproportionate influence on presidential politics

[flotsam]

5. What cash?

I live in New Hampshire and assure you I never received a single cent. Here's the thing, they wanted early caucus and primary states to be small enough to allow even lesser known candidates to reach most involved voters in the state. Larger states would require too much expense to advertise in multiple media outlets. Here in NH there are three-Portland Maine, Boston, Mass and our own WMUR out of Manchester. Some complain that we and Iowa are "too white" and want a more diverse electorate-OK where then? Realistically states with lower population, size, and media markets just tend to be whiter than the general population. Here's the thing though-Iowa is a rust belt farming state and New Hampshire like most east coast states is still struggling with a post industrial economy-our concerns are things every state can relate to. Instead of slamming us tell us which states would be better and tell us why.

Edited to Add that this post is directed to poster #4

[MarcA]

6. New Quinnipiac poll has Biden campaign sending out new talking points. n/t

[flotsam]

7. Okay

Have you got a link or can you repeat them?

[MarcA]

8. Link - yes. Repeat them - no. n/t

[dsc]

9. Maryland

It has 8 reps while combined Iowa and NH have 6 so it is only 33% bigger. In terms of geography it is smaller than Iowa. It has a way more diverse population.

[Gothmog]

10. From my twitter feed

Link to tweet

[flotsam]

11. Thank you

Like Johnny 5 I seek input!