This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
SurveyUSA welcomes observations made by Congresswoman Mia Love's pollster, Scott Riding. Riding says that the research conducted by SurveyUSA in Utah's 4th Congressional District is too old. This is a fair criticism. When SurveyUSA rebalances its research, to make it younger, so as to match 2014 exit polling, Love still trails Democratic challenger Doug Owens. Riding observes that if SurveyUSA's data had twice as many "Strong Republicans," the results would be more favorable to Love, who is a Republican.
When SurveyUSA rebalances its research to double the number of "Strong Republicans," as Riding prescribes, Love and Owens run even.
SurveyUSA is happy to have been assigned this homework by Riding, but we wonder why Riding, who is paid by Love to conduct research, did not just release a poll that shows how the Love campaign sees the race at this hour? Not a summary memo, with puffery, but fully explicated crosstabs, such as those SurveyUSA released.
Love may indeed lead. Surely Riding knows. Why would he offer Tribune readers words instead of numbers? Is Love a canary in Donald Trump's coal mine? Or is she a shoo-in for a second term? The answer is likely on Riding's laptop.
While otherwise polite in his commentary, Riding concludes with gratuitous remarks not in his self-interest: In the only published ranking of election pollsters in the United States, current as of June 2016, SurveyUSA is ranked 6th out of 373 election pollsters, with an "A" grade. Riding's firm, Y2 Analytics, is ranked 230th, with a "C+" grade.
Perhaps it is Love who should re-evaluate how her research dollars are being spent?
Jay H. Leve is president and CEO of SurveyUSA.