Gotta love a headline like this: “Schauer edges ahead of Snyder, 45% to 43%, in new governor race poll”.
Mark Schauer is one of the most patient, methodical politicians I’ve ever seen. In my interview with him last fall, we had this exchange:
Eclectablog: One of the things that I’m hearing from folks on my blog and elsewhere online is that they just don’t know who you are because they’re not from our area. Anne and I know you because you were our Congressman but that’s not the case outside of the districts that you’ve served in and you need support statewide. What’s your game plan as far as educating voters as to “Who is Mark Schauer”?Mark Schauer: Well, we’ve already campaigned in 44 of Michigan’s 83 counties so we’re doing it the old-fashioned way of just getting out and meeting voters in restaurants, in people’s living rooms, anywhere that we can. And we’re making great progress. Where we meet people, they’re very excited. They’re angry at the direction Rick Snyder has taken our state and when they hear about me, my background, my values, my vision for Michigan, they’re immediately on board and ready to go to work.
So, we’re going to continue doing that all over the state at a breakneck pace until the final vote is cast on November 4th, 2014!
But we’re also doing it in new ways with social media. That’s very important and it’s been a fantastic tool, one where we’re tweeting about things we see and hear on the campaign, for example. Or telling our story through pictures and visuals out on the campaign trail. It’s just a fantastic way to build momentum. It’s an amazing multiplier.
Still, keep this in perspective: when Rick Snyder launched his famous Super Bowl ad in February of 2010, as a result of that ad his name ID was only 10% and he didn’t even crack 50% name ID until after the primary.
Eclectablog: So you’re not particularly concerned about the level of your name recognition at this point?
Schauer: Not at all. We feel great about where we are and we certainly feel great about the enthusiasm and that’s just going to build. I say to folks when I leave each meeting and each opportunity that I’m even more confident and even more energized then when I got there. I think people feel the same way. They’re feeling more energized and more confident, too.
As of this past week, Schauer has now campaigned in all of Michigan’s 83 counties. And the results are beginning to show.
One of the funniest parts of the entire Detroit Free Press piece is this:
The Snyder campaign criticized the poll as an outlier.“One out of every 10 polls is garbage and this is certainly an example,” said Snyder spokeswoman Emily Benavides.
LOL. Way to ingriate yourself with the pollsters, there, guys. Bernie Porn of EPIC-MRA will surely be interested to know that you consider his polling “garbage”. We’ll also remember that in the future if you ever point to EPIC-MRA’s polling in any sort of positive way.
