The Baltimore Sun Reports On A Revealing Focus Group
Focus group polls can be extremely revealing, especially at this point in the campaign. When pollsters can talk with a group of voters for more than a few minutes, they often get them to reveal their preferences and leanings in a way that's impossible in an up-or-down poll.
This article last week in the Baltimore Sun on a recent focus group conducted by the estimable Peter Hart in the Baltimore suburbs didn't receive a lot of attention. But it confirms some initial Tote Board impressions as to where voters are currently leaning at this point in the campaign. For the record, the voters were interested in hearing more about Obama, but they questioned his inexperience. They were worried enough about homeland security that Hart later called it "a hidden underlying issue;" these concerns led them to look favorably at Rudy Giuliani and John McCain.
Interestingly, none of the 12 present seemed to have much nice to say about Hillary Clinton. "As for Clinton, voters couldn't seem to get beyond concerns about her personality, her husband and her single-minded drive for power," the article said. "Most said they wouldn't vote for her under any circumstance."
