On Monday night, MSNBC’s Joy Reid went full-blown conspiracy kook during her show The ReidOut. She was apparently wearing her tin foil hat so tight that it was cutting off her circulation because she claimed with a straight face that over half of the midterm election polls published over the last few weeks are Republican polls that are skewed to create a media narrative that a red wave is coming.
Discussing recent media coverage of polls that are trending in the GOP’s direction, Reid snarked that “if you believe the recent headlines, you would think that MAGA fascism is ascendant.”
According to Reid, it’s all an illusion because “if you get past those headlines and dig a little deeper, you uncover an insidious and seemingly intentional campaign by Republican-backed polling firms to flood the zone and tip the balance of polling averages in favor of their candidates.”
Despite claiming that you can’t trust partisan pollsters because they spin for their side, Reid quoted from Democrat pollster Simon Rosenberg who she described as “sounding the alarm, and saying “of the roughly 40 polls taken in key battleground states” over half are “from Republican firms or groups.”
To back up her conspiracy theory, Reid pointed to the left-wing rag The New York Times whose polls showed “Democrats either in the lead or tied with their opponent.”
Continuing to quote from the Times, Reid claimed that “most of the polling over the last few weeks is coming from partisan outfits, usually Republican, or auto dial firms. These polls are cheap enough to flood the zone.”
She ended her delusional and conspiratorial rant by falsely claiming that “Real Clear Politics, has become more openly pro-Trump,” because during the 2020 presidential election, “their polling averages seemed skewed in Trump’s favor.”
Make sure to check out NewsBusters on election night and in the days after to see Reid’s reaction when she’s proven wrong.
This insane segment on MSNBC was made possible by Liberty Mutual. Their information is linked.
To read the transcript of this segment click “expand”:
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
10/31/2022
7:46:51 p.m. EasternJOY REID: Here in the United States, we're a little over a week away from our own midterm elections. And if you believe the recent headlines, you would think that MAGA fascism is ascendant. If you get past those headlines and dig a little deeper, you uncover an insidious and seemingly intentional campaign by Republican-backed polling firms to flood the zone and tip the balance of polling averages in favor of their candidates. To create a narrative that Republicans are surging and that a red wave is imminent and inevitable.
Our friend and Democratic pollster Simon Rosenberg has been sounding the alarm for weeks about this wave of polling. Noting that of the roughly 40 polls taken in key battleground states, more than half, half, are from Republican firms or groups. Over the weekend, the New York Times released four new polls in key battleground states which showed Democrats either in the lead or tied with their opponent.
So why are their polls telling a different story? According to Nate Kohn of the New York Times, most of the polling over the last few weeks is coming from partisan outfits, usually Republican, or auto dial firms. These polls are cheap enough to flood the zone.
And it shouldn't come as a total surprise given that one of those polling aggregators, Real Clear Politics, has become more openly pro-Trump. Back in 2020, the New York Times noted that Real Clear Politics has taken a rightward aggressively pro-Trump turn. It also pointed out that their polling averages seemed skewed in Trump’s favor.
