CA: Rasmussen: Boxer narrowly leads

[Landslide Lyndon]

Isn't there an old "rule of thumb" that undecideds break 2-1 against the incumbent? If that is so, then Carly may have a chance after all.

The "undecideds break 2-1 against the incumbent" rule, along with the "incumbent under 50% is in trouble" rule, is arbitrary and silly. I'd like to see quantitative data on either.

If that rule was true, Bruce Lunsford, Ronnie Musgrove, Tom Strickland and Jim Martin would all be in the Senate today.  

a "rule of thumb" is not a hard and fast rule. it seems to hold true often enough that it is plausible to consider among other indicators.
http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/250399/embattled-incumbents-those-final-poll-numbers-are-often-painfully-accurate
 

Patty Murray's numbers are just fine and I doubt that Bennett can be considered a normal incumbent.
Also, in Boxer's and Reid's case there are third parties/none of the above choices that complicate the math.

[The Vorlon]

Isn't there an old "rule of thumb" that undecideds break 2-1 against the incumbent? If that is so, then Carly may have a chance after all.

The "undecideds break 2-1 against the incumbent" rule, along with the "incumbent under 50% is in trouble" rule, is arbitrary and silly. I'd like to see quantitative data on either.

The "any incumbent under 50%" rule does not say they will lose, but basically, that they should be watched very carefully.

A rule that does apply very well is that incumbents basically end up getting their topline numbers.

Boxer is getting a pretty darn consistent 47% in the polls, maybe it's 46, maybe it's 48, but it sure isn't 50% - so I am pretty sure she will end up with 47% "ish" of the final vote.

There are 3rd party candidates, and 47% or 48% could very well win the race, but I do think it will be very close.

The GOP is tossing an extra $4 million into this race, which is a big chunk of their budget, Whitman is spending 30 million on GOTV which certainly won't hurt Fiorina, and at least one very, very good GOP pollster thinks the race is razor thin close.

I will predict that Fiorina will do better than Rossi in Washington.  

The both may win, they both may lose, but I think Fiorina has a real shot.

[SPC]

Isn't there an old "rule of thumb" that undecideds break 2-1 against the incumbent? If that is so, then Carly may have a chance after all.

The "undecideds break 2-1 against the incumbent" rule, along with the "incumbent under 50% is in trouble" rule, is arbitrary and silly. I'd like to see quantitative data on either.

From the data I've seen, the over-under line for incumbents is closer to 45% than 50%.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

Just for the record, here's the third-party performance in the last few California Senate elections:

2006 - 5.6%
2004 - 4.5%
2000 - 7.6%
1998 - 3.9%
1994 - 8.4% (and this was with a 2-point margin between Feinstein and Huffington)
1992 - 9.1%

[sg0508]

Did that '94 race turn out as expected?  I was too young.  I know as a liberal republican, Huffington appealed well, but that was a nail-biter.  Of course his divorce and his rumors of bisexuality hurt him after that race was over.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

Huffington was a one-term Congressman who self-funded. I can't say, as I was 12 at the time, but those two things don't really add up to a strong candidacy.

[DrScholl]

I was about 8 then, but I can remember the race pretty clearly because everyone in my household talked about it. It really was the money and the environment that allowed Huffington to keep it close, it was a toss-up and the most talked about Senate race that cycle.

[Associate Justice PiT]

I know it's become popular these days to point out that Boxer can't hit 50, but the fact is that she doesn't need to hit 50 to win. If minor candidates got up to 4% of the vote in the senate race and up to 6-8% in the governor's race, it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

It's never good for an incumbent to be below 50 consistently this late in the game.

48% is 50% in California. Lots of third party strength here and I expect it to be even stronger this year.

     This cannot be stressed enough. If Boxer reaches 50%, she is winning by a pretty decent margin. Not so great for a California Democrat, but we are talking about 4-5%.

[MorningInAmerica]

I still think Boxer, undeservedly, will pull one out of the air and win this by a hair. And it's starting to look like Whitman will lose this one too (unless her new "Unhappy Decisions" ad has any impact at all).

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/24/candidate-to-voters-an-unahppy-choice/#more-130632