BarryO and THAT dubious Elon / N&O poll

The N&O newsroom is falling all over its collective self to trumpet a poll it co-sponsored with Elon University that appears to show BarryO’s approval on the upswing here in The Tar Heel State.   The buzz-kill for Barry’s fan club in the N&O newsroom is that Elon’s polls are typically of RESIDENTS, not LIKELY or REGISTERED VOTERS.  In other words, ANYONE who answers the phone — whether it’s Alzheimer’s-stricken Aunt Bertha visiting from Alabama or 16-year-old cousin Oliver — gets quizzed by the pollster.

Anyone who knows anything about political polls knows that polling LIKELY voters is the most reliable method for producing accurate data.  It means more if you are asking people — who have voted in the last several elections — about their preferences.  The N&O trumpets THIS POLL because (1) they paid for it, and (2) it aids and abets their mission.