By:
TJHalva |
Comments [1] | Category:
Daily Update | 9/23/2008 11:01:55 AM CT
I have numerous observations regarding today's polls:
First, starting off with an actual look at the polls, none of them (so far) show any support for John McCain. Arkansas is an exception but who cares in this election. After I post the poll I always go and check the map to make sure nothing terrible happened; today the map went from purple to blue. Every Kerry state is some shade of blue with Minnesota and New Hampshire being the outliers. Colorado, New Mexico and Iowa are also blue. John McCain's in trouble if his best chance of stealing a Kerry state (not New Hampshire) is Minnesota because I just don't see it happening.
Second, on the front page where the candidate boxes are I've added a scenario probability. What this does is take the current projection and the flipping point calculations for each state and does a simple statistical computation. Here's a simple example: lets say candidate A is winning two states, X and Y. X has a flipping point of 35.79 and Y has a flipping point of 67.56. Last election B's party won X, Y (so the percents just represent the probability that A will win X and Y) the math is simple; you simple multiply the two percents. The probability of A winning X and Y is .3579 * .6756 = 24.17%. Today's (current) scenario probability is 34.94% for Obama (which is enormous, more on that later) and McCain's is 13.44%. You may wonder why these numbers don't add up to 100. Its simple, our model takes all the information and calculates the most likely scenario based on polling. This literally leaves thousands of possibilities (although less likely possibilities) remaining. So given the most likely scenario Obama has a 34.94% chance of winning. If I were to include all electoral combination's the percentages would more closely represent 100%. I'm working on a full permutations calculation, but I'm running into excessive processing times.
Lastly, today brought the legitimate possibility of a 269, 269 tie. Obama appears to have a lock on all the Kerry States (except MN and NH) + Iowa + Colorado + New Mexico. We'll just assume he also wins Minnesota, although its currently a Toss Up. If this scenario plays out its a tie and it goes to the House where each state delegation has one vote, 26 votes are needed for victory in this scenario. Currently Obama leads in Virginia, but that state could go either way come November 4th. Getting back to Obama's 34.95% scenario probability today; Virginia is the state holding this number so low. If Virginia is just arbitrarily placed in McCain's column Obama's scenario probability rockets to 47.63% while McCain's actually drops to 13.43%. What does this mean? Obama currently has a baseline winning percentage of 47.63% percent assuming the House votes in his favor (which is likely).
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Poll Update (9/23)
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