Chichiri

Chichiri's Journal

February 24, 2016

STATE OF THE PRIMARY - February 24, 2016

http://stateoftheprimary.blogspot.com

From now on, all installments of SotP will be posted on this site I just set up. In the event that I disappear from DU, you can always find the daily installment on that site. Please feel free to link to it here on DU.

If I do disappear, I want to say that it's been a pleasure and a privilege being able to do this work for you guys.

February 23, 2016

STATE OF THE PRIMARY - February 23, 2016 (Afternoon Edition)

[font color="blue"]Delegate Count
Total Delegates (AP): Clinton 503, Sanders 70 (Clinton +433)
Pledged Delegates: Clinton 52, Sanders 51 (Clinton +1).

Latest Results
Nevada Caucuses: Clinton 20, Sanders 15 (Clinton +5).
Vote Spread: Clinton 52.6, Sanders 47.3 (Clinton +5).
Versus Median Projection (538): Clinton +2.

Next Primary
South Carolina, February 27 (53 pledged delegates).
Median projection (538): Clinton +11.[/font]

[font color="darkblue"] Latest Polls
Michigan (ARG): Clinton 53, Sanders 40 (Clinton +13).
Massachusetts (Emerson): Sanders 46, Clinton 46 (tie).
North Carolina (Elon University): Clinton 47, Sanders 37 (Clinton +10).
Utah (Dan Jones): Clinton 51, Sanders 44 (Clinton +7).
Georgia (WSB-TV/Landmark): Clinton 72, Sanders 20 (Clinton +52).
Vermont (Castleton U): Sanders 83, Clinton 9 (Sanders +74).
North Carolina (SurveyUSA): Clinton 51, Sanders 36 (Clinton +15).
Illinois (The Simon Poll/SIU): Clinton 51, Sanders 32 (Clinton +19).
West Virginia (MetroNews): Sanders 57, Clinton 29 (Sanders +28).
Texas (UT/Texas Tribune): Clinton 54, Sanders 44 (Clinton +10).
Ohio (Quinnipiac): Clinton 55, Sanders 40 (Clinton +15).

Current Polls-Plus Projections (538)
South Carolina: Clinton 65.0, Sanders 31.2.
Arkansas: Clinton 64.7, Sanders 31.8.
Georgia: Clinton 76.9, Sanders 19.8.
Massachusetts: Clinton 49.5, Sanders 47.4.
Oklahoma: Clinton 52.6, Sanders 43.9.
Tennessee: Clinton 65.4, Sanders 31.4.
Texas: Clinton 62.1, Sanders 35.3.
Virginia: Clinton 62.4, Sanders 34.5.
Michigan: Clinton 61.4, Sanders 35.8.
North Carolina: Clinton 60.7, Sanders 35.8.

Current Endorsement Score (538)
Clinton 468, Sanders 3.[/font]

[font color="brown"]Quick Glance at the GOP
Pledged Delegates: Trump 67, Cruz 11, Rubio 10.
538 Nevada Projection: Trump 64, Rubio 25, Cruz 10.
Endorsement Score: Rubio 138, Cruz 24, Kasich 20.[/font]

Comments
I am no longer going to consider the Cook targets in this post. The Cook report takes into account estimated superdelegates when formulating its targets; however, while superdelegate votes do and should count, the Cook report doesn't factor in the likely fact that, if Bernie is obviously going to win the pledged delegates, the superdelegates will change their mind, as they did with Obama eight years ago, to preserve the will of the people.

I would love it if the Cook report released a different version of its scorecard that only accounted for pledged delegates. Until then, however, we have Nate Silver. His median projected votes give the expected vote margin for each state, assuming that the national vote is split 50-50. Under that metric, Bernie came in behind in all three states that have voted so far, for a total of 15 points behind target. This doesn't account for superdelegates at all, and is therefore a more accurate way of predicting who will be the numerical winner.

As expected, the new Texas poll narrowed the projected result in that state by 4 points -- now 62-35 Hillary. This might mean a couple more delegates in the Lone Star State for Bernie, although he's not in any real danger of winning the state.

How This Works
The delegate counts, pledged and total, are taken from AP. The total delegate count includes both pledged delegates, based on their margins in the states which have voted, and superdelegates, who have declared their intention to vote for one of the candidates (but may change their mind before the convention).

The projections and endorsement scores are maintained by FiveThirtyEight; the numbers indicate the population mean of the candidates' vote shares. Italic font denotes that the 80% confidence intervals of the candidates overlap, meaning there's a reasonable chance that the person with the higher vote share will not win that state. The median projection for a state is the expected outcome in that state if the national vote is tied 50-50; whichever candidate exceeds the median projection draws closer to winning the nomination; the other drops farther behind.

If this post is useful to you, please K&R!

[font color="purple"]Pun of the Day
Until the metric system is established, a ruler will always be afoot![/font]

[hr]

February 23, 2016

STATE OF THE PRIMARY - February 23, 2016

[font color="blue"]Delegate Count
Total Delegates (AP): Clinton 503, Sanders 70 (Clinton +433)
Pledged Delegates: Clinton 52, Sanders 51 (Clinton +1).
Versus Targets (Cook): Clinton +11, Sanders -11

Latest Results
Nevada Caucuses: Clinton 20, Sanders 15 (Clinton +5).
Versus 2/12 Targets: Clinton +4, Sanders -4.

Next Primary
South Carolina, February 27 (53 pledged delegates).
Targets (Cook): Clinton 28, Sanders 25.
Median projection (538): Clinton +11.[/font]

[font color="darkblue"] Latest Polls
North Carolina (SurveyUSA): Clinton 51, Sanders 36 (Clinton +15).
Illinois (The Simon Poll/SIU): Clinton 51, Sanders 32 (Clinton +19).
West Virginia (MetroNews): Sanders 57, Clinton 29 (Sanders +28).
Texas (UT/Texas Tribune): Clinton 54, Sanders 44 (Clinton +10).
Ohio (Quinnipiac): Clinton 55, Sanders 40 (Clinton +15).

Current Polls-Plus Projections (538)
South Carolina: Clinton 65.0, Sanders 31.2.
Arkansas: Clinton 64.7, Sanders 31.8.
Georgia: Clinton 76.9, Sanders 19.8.
Massachusetts: Clinton 49.5, Sanders 47.4.
Oklahoma: Clinton 52.6, Sanders 43.9.
Tennessee: Clinton 65.4, Sanders 31.4.
Texas: Clinton 63.8, Sanders 33.2.
Virginia: Clinton 62.4, Sanders 34.5.
Michigan: Clinton 61.4, Sanders 35.8.
North Carolina: Clinton 60.7, Sanders 35.8.

Current Endorsement Score (538)
Clinton 468, Sanders 3.[/font]

[font color="brown"]Quick Glance at the GOP
Pledged Delegates: Trump 67, Cruz 11, Rubio 10.
538 Nevada Projection: Trump 64, Rubio 25, Cruz 10.
Endorsement Score: Rubio 137, Cruz 22, Kasich 20.[/font]

Comments
One week from Super Tuesday!

That new Texas poll, which shows Hillary ahead only 10 points, is from YouGov, which has a decent-ish reputation, and the methodology behind it looks sound to this layman. Much as I'd like to dispute it, I can't. However, it has not yet been factored into FiveThirtyEight's projection for Texas. (Neither has that West Virginia poll, whose pollster has little, no, or negative reputation.)

If this does cause the numbers in Texas to narrow, and I think it will, this gives some much-needed good news for Bernie fans. They are assuming, based solely on Nevada entrance polls, that Bernie somehow managed to acquire the Latino vote, and can therefore make very large inroads in states like Texas, Florida, and California.

However, looking at objective data, Hillary won the more Latino parts of the state -- most notably Clark County by 10 points, and the at-large caucuses in Las Vegas, which were very heavily Latino. A good article from Vox considers this discrepancy:

The only explanation for the entrance polls would be that Clinton consistently won the parts of Nevada where the most Latinos happen to be — by overwhelmingly winning the non-Latino vote there, while Sanders won the Latino vote.

That is extremely unlikely. It is more likely that Hillary Clinton won the most Latino parts of Nevada because Hillary Clinton won Nevada's Latinos.

The article goes on to explain why entrance and exit polls aren't good for tracking Latino behavior. So if Bernie is counting on Latinos to be his own "firewall," he's going to get -- forgive me, I cannot resist -- berned down to the ground.

So why has the Texas race narrowed? Maybe it's an outlier. Or maybe Bernie has more of a ground game in the Lone Star state than we thought -- which in itself would be great news for him. Either way, though, it's not Latinos. And to date, nobody has shown me a path from Bernie to the nomination that doesn't include Latinos.

Meanwhile, on the evil side, looking at the endorsements it seems clear that the GOP establishment is flocking to Rubio -- if you look at his endorsement score timeline, it now resembles a hockey stick. No surprise there. And more importantly, he's making some real inroads in states like Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. It might just be enough to dump Trump.

How This Works
The delegate counts, pledged and total, are taken from AP. The total delegate count includes both pledged delegates, based on their margins in the states which have voted, and superdelegates, who have declared their intention to vote for one of the candidates (but may change their mind before the convention).

The targets are taken from the Cook Political Report's model, based on superdelegate endorsement and demographic conditions favorable to each candidate, and represent the number of delegates each candidate must win in each state in order to stay on track to tie for the nomination. The targets are current as of February 12. The projections and endorsement scores are maintained by FiveThirtyEight; the numbers indicate the population mean of the candidates' vote shares. Italic font denotes that the 80% confidence intervals of the candidates overlap, meaning there's a reasonable chance that the person with the higher vote share will not win that state.

If this post is useful to you, please K&R!

[font color="purple"]Pun of the Day
Until the metric system is established, a ruler will always be afoot![/font]

[hr]

February 22, 2016

STATE OF THE PRIMARY - February 22, 2016

[font color="blue"]Delegate Count
Total Delegates (AP): Clinton 502, Sanders 70 (Clinton +432)
Pledged Delegates: Sanders 51, Clinton 51 (tie).
Versus Targets (Cook): Clinton +10, Sanders -11

Latest Results
Nevada Caucuses: Clinton 19, Sanders 15 (Clinton +4); 1 not yet allocated.
Versus 2/12 Targets: Clinton +3, Sanders -4.

Next Primary
South Carolina, February 27 (53 pledged delegates).
Targets (Cook): Clinton 28, Sanders 25.[/font]

[font color="darkblue"] Latest Polls
Michigan (ARG): Clinton 53, Sanders 40 (Clinton +13).
Massachusetts (Emerson): Sanders 46, Clinton 46 (tie).
North Carolina (Elon University): Clinton 47, Sanders 37 (Clinton +10).
Utah (Dan Jones): Clinton 51, Sanders 44 (Clinton +7).
Georgia (WSB-TV/Landmark): Clinton 72, Sanders 20 (Clinton +52).
Vermont (Castleton U): Sanders 83, Clinton 9 (Sanders +74).
North Carolina (SurveyUSA): Clinton 51, Sanders 36 (Clinton +15).
Illinois (The Simon Poll/SIU): Clinton 51, Sanders 32 (Clinton +19).

Current Polls-Plus Projections (538)
South Carolina: Clinton 65.0, Sanders 31.2.
Arkansas: Clinton 64.7, Sanders 31.8.
Georgia: Clinton 76.9, Sanders 19.8.
Massachusetts: Clinton 49.5, Sanders 47.4.
Oklahoma: Clinton 52.6, Sanders 43.9.
Tennessee: Clinton 65.4, Sanders 31.4.
Texas: Clinton 63.8, Sanders 33.2.
Virginia: Clinton 62.4, Sanders 34.5.
Michigan: Clinton 61.4, Sanders 35.8.
North Carolina: Clinton 60.7, Sanders 35.8.

Current Endorsement Score (538)
Clinton 468, Sanders 3.[/font]

[font color="brown"]Quick Glance at the GOP
Pledged Delegates: Trump 67, Cruz 11, Rubio 10.
538 Nevada Projection: Trump 64, Rubio 24, Cruz 11.
Endorsement Score: Rubio 108, Cruz 22, Kasich 20.[/font]

Comments
From now on, in the projections section, instead of probability-to-win I will list the mean of the probability curves representing Bernie and Hillary's respective vote shares. So, for instance, Hillary is projected to win 65% of the vote in South Carolina.

In cases where the 80% confidence intervals of the probability curves overlap, I've listed the state in italics. In other words, if you see a race in italics, there's at least a 10% chance that the candidate who is behind will nonetheless win the state.

(Republican projections will still list the probability of a candidate winning the state, since (a) there are more than two candidates and therefore usually some overlap, (b) some Republican states are winner-take-all, and (c) I can't be bothered to do the little bit of extra work for them.)

We finally have a projection for Massachusetts, and it doesn't look good for Bernie -- he's a couple points behind. He still has a 43% chance of winning the state, and it will help him in the MSM if he does -- they care about victories in states. But according to the Cook report, Bernie needs at least 56 delegates, or about 23 points over Hillary. According to Nate Silver's (somewhat more generous) breakdown, he needs at least 11 points over Hillary. It doesn't look like he's going to get either.

So where does Bernie stand? He's definitely going to win Vermont. He's behind in Massachusetts and Oklahoma, but has a decent chance to catch up and win it. We have no good data for Colorado and Minnesota, but we have to assume he's favored in those states.

So we're looking at between one and five of the 12 Super Tuesday states/territories for Bernie. But how many delegates does that amount to?

First, we'll assume that he'll win all five states mentioned above. Second, we'll assume a 60-40 share in delegates for each state, except for Vermont where we'll just give him all 16, because they really do love him there. Finally, we'll assume a tie in American Samoa.

Under this somewhat best-case scenario for Bernie, he would get 412 delegates to Hillary's 453. So he'd still be competitive, but still very much behind. He'll have a lot of work to do after Super Tuesday.

One more thing: From now on, this post will only appear in the Hillary Clinton group (and on my journal).

How This Works
The delegate counts, pledged and total, are taken from AP. The total delegate count includes both pledged delegates, based on their margins in the states which have voted, and superdelegates, who have declared their intention to vote for one of the candidates (but may change their mind before the convention).

The targets are taken from the Cook Political Report's model, based on superdelegate endorsement and demographic conditions favorable to each candidate, and represent the number of delegates each candidate must win in each state in order to stay on track to tie for the nomination. The targets are current as of February 12. The projections and endorsement scores are maintained by FiveThirtyEight; the numbers indicate the population mean of the candidates' vote shares. Italic font denotes that the 80% confidence intervals of the candidates overlap, meaning there's a reasonable chance that the person with the higher vote share will not win that state.

If this post is useful to you, please K&R!

[font color="purple"]Pun of the Day
I don't like Russian nesting dolls. They're so full of themselves![/font]

[hr]

February 21, 2016

STATE OF THE PRIMARY - February 21, 2016

February 20, 2016

STATE OF THE PRIMARY - February 20, 2016

[font color="blue"]Delegate Count
Total Delegates (AP): Clinton 483, Sanders 55 (Clinton +428)
Pledged Delegates: Sanders 36, Clinton 32 (Sanders +4)
Versus Targets (Cook): Clinton +7, Sanders -7.

Next Primary
Nevada caucuses, TODAY (35 pledged delegates).
Targets (Cook): Clinton 16, Sanders 19.[/font]

[font color="darkblue"] Latest Polls
South Carolina (NBC/WSJ): Clinton 60, Sanders 32 (Clinton +28).
Michigan (FOX 2/Mitchell): Clinton 60, Sanders 27 (Clinton +33).
Michigan (PPP): Clinton 50, Sanders 40 (Clinton +10).

Current Polls-Plus Projections (538)
Nevada: Clinton 71%.
South Carolina: Clinton >99%.
Arkansas: Clinton 99%
Georgia: Clinton >99%.
Oklahoma: Clinton 78%.
Tennessee: Clinton 99%.
Texas: Clinton 98%.
Virginia: Clinton 98%.
Michigan: Clinton 94%.
North Carolina: Clinton 97%.

Current Endorsement Score (538)
Clinton 468, Sanders 3.[/font]

[font color="brown"]Quick Glance at the GOP
Pledged Delegates: Trump 17, Cruz 11, Rubio 10.
Versus Targets: Trump -4, Cruz -5, Rubio -10.
538 South Carolina Projection: Trump 76%, Rubio 11%, Cruz 11%.
Endorsement Score: Rubio 91, Bush 51, Cruz 22.[/font]

Comments
Happy Nevada Day!

I'll be completely honest, I have no idea what's going to happen in Nevada today. Republicans are making organized efforts to crash the caucuses and vote for Bernie. The Nevada Democratic Party has threatened to prosecute anyone who votes in both caucuses -- I don't know if their reading of the law is correct, or how many Republicans they'll scare off; I think a lot of them would give up their GOP vote entirely rather than let Hillary win Nevada. They're that afraid of her.

But Nevada polls are notoriously unreliable. In 2008 the RCP average had Romney beating McCain by 5 points, but he ended up winning by 38 points. So if 538 gives Hillary a 71% chance of winning, or if the last poll puts her ahead by 6, as much as I'd like to read into that, I can't.

A new Michigan poll from PPP has Hillary ahead by 10; given the proximity to other polls in February that have her ahead by around 30, it's probably an outlier.

Bernie fans have been claiming, not incorrectly, that Bernie has ended up under-polled in Iowa and New Hampshire. Keep in mind, however, that (a) two states is a lousy sample size, and (b) in both states, the polls fell within the 80% confidence range in 538's projections. To that end, I've created two different predictions of the upcoming states, one that continues Bernie's luck in this area, and one that assumes a median case. You can enjoy whichever one you want.

One more thing: It's pretty obvious that Hillary supporters appreciate the hard work I'm doing, collecting the objective numbers, and that Bernie fans do not. I really want the Bernie fans to be exposed to actual data, but I don't want to waste my time publishing this in two groups (I also publish it in the Hillary group). So if you're a Bernie fan, please vote in the poll below.

How This Works
The delegate counts, pledged and total, are taken from AP. The total delegate count includes both pledged delegates, based on their margins in the states which have voted, and superdelegates, who have declared their intention to vote for one of the candidates (but may change their mind before the election).

The targets are taken from the Cook Political Report's model, based on superdelegate endorsement and demographic conditions favorable to each candidate, and represent the number of delegates each candidate must win in each state in order to stay on track to tie for the nomination. The targets are current as of February 12. The projections and endorsement scores are maintained by FiveThirtyEight; the projections indicate the probability that the candidate will win that state.

If this post is useful to you, please K&R!

[font color="purple"]Pun of the Day
In economic news: cactus sales have spiked, but aquarium sales have tanked![/font]

[hr]

February 20, 2016

A Best-Case Scenario for Bernie

Here's what I did: I looked at every primary from now through March 15. For states where FiveThirtyEight has a spread projection, I took the 90th percentile of Bernie's projected vote (the right side of the blue bell curve). For example, while the projected vote in Nevada right now is 52-46 Hillary, the 90th percentile of Bernie's range is at 54, which would give Hillary 46, for total margin of +8.

For states where FiveThirtyEight doesn't have a projection, I took the most favorable (to Bernie) recent reputable poll and gave Bernie the undecideds. For example, Alabama's most recent poll is 59-31 Hillary, so I bumped Bernie up to 41, for a -18 margin. The exceptions are Colorado and Minnesota; the most recent polls there are very favorable for Hillary, but those polls are old, and they're caucus states which favors Bernie, so I simply assumed a tie in both those states.

I then compared these numbers to Nate Silver's target numbers at 538, the margins that Nate says Bernie needs to beat in each state in order to be on track to win the nomination.

Here's how it shakes down -- and again, this is a best-case scenario for Bernie.

[font color="red"]NEVADA: Needs -3; has +8.

[font color="blue"]SOUTH CAROLINA: Needs -11, has -24.

[font color="red"]VERMONT: Needs +49, has +76.

[font color="blue"]MINNESOTA: Needs +17, has 0.

[font color="blue"]COLORADO: Needs +13, has 0.

[font color="blue"]MASSACHUSETTS: Needs +11, has +7.

[font color="red"]OKLAHOMA: Needs +2, has +4.

[font color="blue"]TENNESSEE: Needs -4, has -18.

[font color="blue"]VIRGINIA: Needs -9, has -12.

[font color="red"]ARKANSAS: Needs -20, has -18.

[font color="red"]TEXAS: Needs -20, has -16.

[font color="blue"]GEORGIA: Needs -24, has -26.

[font color="red"]ALABAMA: Needs -27, has -18.

[font color="gray"]KANSAS: Needs +13; no data.

[font color="gray"]NEBRASKA: Needs +11; no data.

[font color="red"]LOUISIANA: Needs -22, has -20.

[font color="gray"]MAINE: Needs +27; no data.

[font color="blue"]MICHIGAN: Needs +11, has -16.

[font color="red"]MISSISSIPPI: Needs -32, has -20.

[font color="gray"]MISSOURI: Needs +4; no data.

[font color="blue"]NORTH CAROLINA: Needs 0, has -10.

[font color="blue"]OHIO: Needs -2, has -6.

[font color="gray"]ILLINOIS: Needs -3; no data.

[font color="blue"]FLORIDA: Needs -15, has -24.

[font color="black"]Anyone want to see a more realistic scenario?

(Originally posted in GDP -- I think, like most of you, I'm done there.)

February 19, 2016

STATE OF THE PRIMARY - February 19, 2016

Last updated: 2:54 PM CST

[font color="blue"]Delegate Count
Total Delegates (AP): Clinton 481, Sanders 55 (Clinton +426)
Pledged Delegates: Sanders 36, Clinton 32 (Sanders +4)
Versus Targets (Cook): Clinton +7, Sanders -7.

Next Primary
Nevada caucuses, February 20 (35 pledged delegates).
Targets (Cook): Clinton 16, Sanders 19.[/font]

[font color="darkblue"] Latest Polls
Nevada (Gravis): Clinton 53, Sanders 47 (Clinton +6).
South Carolina (Monmouth): Clinton 59, Sanders 30 (Clinton +29).
North Carolina (SurveyUSA): Clinton 51, Sanders 36 (Clinton +15).
South Carolina (Seltzer & Co): Clinton 53, Sanders 31 (Clinton +22).
South Carolina (Fox News): Clinton 56, Sanders 28 (Clinton +28).
South Carolina (NBC/WSJ): Clinton 60, Sanders 32 (Clinton +28).

Current Polls-Plus Projections (538)
Nevada: Clinton 72%.
South Carolina: Clinton >99%.
Arkansas: Clinton 99%
Georgia: Clinton >99%.
Oklahoma: Clinton 78%.
Tennessee: Clinton 99%.
Texas: Clinton 98%.
Virginia: Clinton 98%.
Michigan: Clinton 94%.
North Carolina: Clinton 97%.

Current Endorsement Score (538)
Clinton 468, Sanders 3.[/font]

[font color="brown"]Quick Glance at the GOP
Pledged Delegates: Trump 17, Cruz 11, Rubio 10.
Versus Targets: Trump -4, Cruz -5, Rubio -10.
538 South Carolina Projection: Trump 78%, Rubio 11%.
Endorsement Score: Rubio 91, Bush 51, Cruz 21.[/font]

Comments
Happy Friday!

So just as we Hillary fans resigned ourselves to losing most of New Hampshire's 24 pledged delegates, so now have Bernie fans seemed to resign themselves to losing most of South Carolina's 53 delegates. The question is, how much will he lose by?

According to Cook's model (which has not yet been updated to factor in the 87 additional superdelegates Hillary has lately received, or the handful that Bernie also picked up), Bernie doesn't need to win South Carolina to stay on track for the nomination. But he does need to come close: he needs 25 delegates to Hillary's 28. Currently he is projected to get at most 40% of the vote, which would give him about 21 delegates to Hillary's 32. Barring a Bernie blowout in the Silver State on Saturday, this will give Hillary the lead in pledged delegates.

What about Super Tuesday? Bernie will win Vermont, of course, and almost certainly meet his target of 11 delegates to Hillary's 5. My guess is that he'll take Massachusetts pretty easily -- and he'd better; his target is 56 delegates to Hillary's 35.

The last poll here in Minnesota was 59-25 Clinton, but that's from late January, and Minnesota is a caucus state, so Bernie has a pretty good chance here (target is 45 to Hillary's 32). Colorado's last and only poll of 55-27 Clinton is from November, and again it's a caucus state, so again Bernie's got a good chance there (target 36 to Hillary's 30).

Beyond that? Assuming Bernie picks up all the undecideds in Alabama, he'll get about 21 delegates (target 28). In Arkansas, 11 or 12 (target 17). In Georgia, 32 (target 49). In Texas, 89 (target 108). And so on.

It's not all bad. He only needs 3 delegates from American Samoa.

How This Works
The delegate counts, pledged and total, are taken from AP. The total delegate count includes both pledged delegates, based on their margins in the states which have voted, and superdelegates, who have declared their intention to vote for one of the candidates (but may change their mind before the election).

The targets are taken from the Cook Political Report's model, based on superdelegate endorsement and demographic conditions favorable to each candidate, and represent the number of delegates each candidate must win in each state in order to stay on track to tie for the nomination. The targets are current as of February 12. The projections and endorsement scores are maintained by FiveThirtyEight; the projections indicate the probability that the candidate will win that state.

If this post is useful to you, please K&R!

[font color="purple"]Pun of the Day
They wanted me to do a blind acupuncture study, but I didn't see the point.[/font]

[hr]

February 18, 2016

STATE OF THE PRIMARY - February 18, 2016

[font color="blue"]Delegate Count
Total Delegates (AP): Clinton 481, Sanders 55 (Clinton +426)
Pledged Delegates: Sanders 36, Clinton 32 (Sanders +4)
Versus Targets (Cook): Clinton +7, Sanders -7.

Next Primary
Nevada caucuses, February 20 (35 pledged delegates).
Targets (Cook): Clinton 16, Sanders 19.[/font]

[font color="darkblue"] Latest Polls
Nevada (CNN/ORC): Clinton 48, Sanders 47 (Clinton +1).
Arkansas (PPP): Clinton 57, Sanders 32 (Clinton +25).
Massachusetts (PPP): Sanders 49, Clinton 42 (Sanders +7).
Oklahoma (PPP): Clinton 46, Sanders 44 (Clinton +2).
Tennessee (PPP): Clinton 58, Sanders 32 (Clinton +26).
Texas (PPP): Clinton 57, Sanders 34 (Clinton +23).
Virginia (PPP): Clinton 56, Sanders 34 (Clinton +22).
Alabama (PPP): Clinton 59, Sanders 31 (Clinton +28).
Georgia (PPP): Clinton 60, Sanders 26 (Clinton +34).
Louisiana (PPP): Clinton 60, Sanders 29 (Clinton +31).
Michigan (PPP): Clinton 50, Sanders 40 (Clinton +10).
Mississippi (PPP): Clinton 60, Sanders 26 (Clinton +34).
Vermont (PPP): Clinton 10, Sanders 86 (Sanders +76).
Nevada (Gravis): Clinton 53, Sanders 47 (Clinton +6).
South Carolina (Monmouth): Clinton 59, Sanders 30 (Clinton +29).

Current Polls-Plus Projections (538)
Nevada: Clinton 75%.
South Carolina: Clinton >99%.
Arkansas: Clinton >99%
Virginia: Clinton 98%.
Michigan: Clinton 95%.
Georgia: Clinton >99%.
Oklahoma: Clinton 81%.
Texas: Clinton 98%.
Tennessee: Clinton 99%.
North Carolina: Clinton 99%.

Current Endorsement Score (538)
Clinton 467, Sanders 2.[/font]

[font color="brown"]Quick Glance at the GOP
Pledged Delegates: Trump 17, Cruz 11, Rubio 10.
Versus Targets: Trump -4, Cruz -5, Rubio -10.
538 South Carolina Projection: Trump 77%, Rubio 12%.
Endorsement Score: Rubio 85, Bush 51, Cruz 21.[/font]

Comments
Is it Thursday already? Jeesh.

Quinnipiac released a whole slew of matchups in hypothetical general elections, the gist of which Bernie rocks and Hillary sucks. Generally speaking, matchup polls early in the election years have zero predictive value, as I would be pointing out (perhaps somewhat reluctantly) even if roles were reversed. Moreover, in this particular instance, we have a unique problem: Bernie's numbers reflect someone who has never been properly vetted nationwide, and who has had the luxury of being able to define his own image, while Hillary's numbers reflect over two decades of the harshest national vetting this country has ever seen. So yes, Virginia, they really do mean nothing.

Well, almost nothing. If Bernie does win the nomination, he might have a little bit of cushioning for his fall -- and I think he'd still do well against Trump and maybe Cruz, at least, just because those two guys are so awful. So if GOP trends continue past Super Tuesday, a Bernie nomination wouldn't be the worst thing. (But if Rubio, Kasich or Bush wins, start praying.)

Difficult or not, I would love to see a couple more Nevada polls. How about you?

How This Works
The delegate counts, pledged and total, are taken from AP. The total delegate count includes both pledged delegates, based on their margins in the states which have voted, and superdelegates, who have declared their intention to vote for one of the candidates (but may change their mind before the election).

The targets are taken from the Cook Political Report's model, based on superdelegate endorsement and demographic conditions favorable to each candidate, and represent the number of delegates each candidate must win in each state in order to stay on track to tie for the nomination. The targets are current as of February 12. The projections and endorsement scores are maintained by FiveThirtyEight; the projections indicate the probability that the candidate will win that state.

Additions and changes made after the thread is posted will be denoted by italics.

If this post is useful to you, please K&R!

[font color="purple"]Pun of the Day
The new window glass fell into a tree yesterday; it was a pane in the ash![/font]

[hr]

February 16, 2016

STATE OF THE PRIMARY - February 16, 2016

[font color="blue"]Delegate Count
Pledged Delegates: Sanders 36, Clinton 32 (Sanders +4)
Total Delegates (AP): Clinton 394, Sanders 44 (Clinton +350)
Versus Targets (Cook): Clinton +7, Sanders -7.

Next Primary
Nevada caucuses, February 20 (35 pledged delegates).
Targets (Cook): Clinton 16, Sanders 19.[/font]

[font color="darkblue"] Latest Polls
South Carolina (CBS/YouGov): Clinton 59, Sanders 40 (Clinton +19)
South Carolina (Gravis): Clinton 59, Sanders 41 (Clinton +18).
South Carolina (PPP): Clinton 55, Sanders 34 (Clinton +21).
Virginia (CNU): Clinton 52, Sanders 40 (Clinton +12).
South Carolina (CNN/ORC): Clinton 56, Sanders 38 (Clinton +18).
South Carolina (ARG): Clinton 61, Sanders 31 (Clinton +30)

Current Polls-Plus Projections (538)
Nevada: Sanders 51%.
South Carolina: Clinton >99%.
Virginia: Clinton 84%.
Michigan: Clinton 97%.
North Carolina: Clinton 95%.

Current Endorsement Score (538)
Clinton 467, Sanders 2.[/font]

[font color="brown"]Quick Glance at the GOP
Pledged Delegates: Trump 17, Cruz 11, Rubio 10.
Versus Targets: Trump -4, Cruz -5, Rubio -10.
538 South Carolina Projection: Trump 74%, Rubio 15%.
Endorsement Score: Rubio 75, Bush 51, Kasich 20.[/font]

Comments
Hillary's target in Virginia is modestly higher than Bernie's, 49 to 46, which means she needs about 52% of the vote. According to the Christopher Newport University poll, which was taken both before and after NH, that's exactly what she has, and if the undecideds break evenly that will give her 56%, which would be 53 delegates. However, the margin of error for that poll is 7.3.

The SC targets of 28 and 25 are unchanged, which means Hillary needs around 53% of the vote. Currently she's polling a bit under 60%. As for Nevada, Bernie needs at least 19 pledged delegates there, which is around 54% of the vote. 538 still has it as a tossup based on that single GOP pro-Bernie push poll.

Bernie has taken a tiny lead in 538's Nevada projection -- but to be honest, I have no idea what has gone into it. The push poll from a few days ago is still the only poll in town; that hasn't changed. I know that there are other factors that go into the projections besides polls, however, so I'll take Nate's word for it. Meanwhile, another confirmation of Hillary's 18-points-or-greater lead in South Carolina.

How This Works
The delegate counts, pledged and total, are taken from AP. The total delegate count includes both pledged delegates and superdelegates. Superdelegates are not bound to any one candidate, and while the count reflects their stated intentions, they can change their minds before the convention.

The targets are taken from the Cook Political Report's model, based on superdelegate endorsement and demographic conditions favorable to each candidate, and represent the number of delegates each candidate must win in each state in order to stay on track to tie for the nomination. The targets are current as of February 12. The projections and endorsement scores are maintained by FiveThirtyEight; the projections indicate the probability that the candidate will win that state.

Additions and changes made after the thread is posted will be denoted by italics.

If you have a suggestion for a scorecard or model not covered above, let me know. If this post is useful to you, please K&R!

[font color="purple"]Pun of the Day
If you see a Hillary supporter using a lowercase letter, capitalize on it![/font]

[hr]

Profile Information

Member since: Sat Aug 21, 2004, 06:17 PM
Number of posts: 4,667

« Prev 1 2 3 Next »