Former advisor to the city of Harrisburg Brenda Alton was conspicuously absent from the recent Harper Poll put out for the Pa. Lt. Governor race, something Alton took notice of immediately.
“I find this omission to be inappropriate, unfair, and undemocratic. All candidates should be treated equally and assumed viable until May 20. What the poll did discover was that 48% of the electorate was undecided, which isn’t surprising, because the one female and African American candidate in the race was ignored,” said Alton.
The poll revealed that former Penn State football assistant coach Jay Paterno led the group with 17%. Former Congressman Mark Critz came in close behind at 16%, and none of the other candidates were able to break into double digits. As Alton mentioned, nearly half of those surveyed were undecided. With such a large demographic answering as undecided, it is quite possible that Alton’s exclusion had a decent effect on the results of the poll.
“I joined this race to appeal to that 48% and to place people before politics,” Alton said.“Clearly politics are involved in the polling when every candidate isn’t given the opportunity to be represented to potential voters”.
Harper Polling declined to comment.
Along with Alton, Paterno and Critz, Lt. Governor candidates include State Rep. Brandon Neuman, State Senator Mike Stack, Harrisburg City Councilman Brad Koplinski and Bradford County Commissioner Mark Smith.
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8 Responses
Seitz-
Nope.
I am trying to get many of the Lt Gov candidates as customers, but that’s just to provide voter database access. The computer is very neutral and provides the same data to any campaign that purchases access.
I don’t get involved in campaigns in any other role than a software vendor (with great tech support). I don’t circulate petitions, make phone calls, door knock, etc.
That a Republican polling firm would “forget” to include a black woman sure doesn’t surprise me.
I’ve met Brenda Alton and she is someone folks should take seriously.
It’s a primary poll, people. It’s not unusual for a candidate to be left off it. See, e.g., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_gubernatorial_election,_2014#Polling_2
Isn’t David Diano on Alton’s payroll?
“Harper Polling declined to comment.”
I’m guessing their actually comment was either: “Oops!” or “Oh, sh*t.”
Either way, they should re-run the poll and issue a formal apology.
Please forgive any syntax errors, shaking hands, getting signatures and typing on an iphone don’t mix well:-)
In response to the question by the South Central Democrat I am qualified to answer your question, as the statewide campaign manager…with an unequivocal…YES;-)
We surpassed the required number for placement on the ballot Day 2 of the petition gathering process!
We are not stopping until the very last day as we believe in the process and we want to shake as many hands as we can across the State!
FYI-Names are double-checked against the most current database and we have thoroughly trained field supervisors and volunteers on the very specific process of getting petitions signed and submitted properly. We go as far as to explain in detail the process prominently on our website: http://www.brenda2014.com.
We are confidant we will survive any challenges by numbers already acquired, our diligent adherence to the regs and an organizational internally required no tolerance policy for any discrepancies on submissions examined by our veteran core staff.
Southcentral Democrat…just a humble reminder, we are a party described as the ‘big tent’.
We still believe that people not the political machine win and lose elections.
It is the core of who we are, not race, class, gender…simply people who still believe we have a fair chance to achieve based on merit, hard work, ethic and passion for the struggle of everyday people who basically want the exact same ‘fair chance’ at the end of the day…
Just a reminder my good peer and friend. Assumptions like the one you stated, especially when not fact is another America, none of us should want to go back to…especially democrats;-)
Harper probably polled the candidates that most likely will be appearing on the ballot. Does anyone think that Alton can get that many signatures?