Thursday night

Was the poll skewed? If so, how badly? See here.

Here are the demographics used in the sample versus a more accurate picture of the composition of the GOP as compiled from various sources.

Demographic		Sample Size	Sample Pct.	Actual
Men		1125	56.16%	52%
Women		878	43.83%	48%
White		1787	89.21%	89%
Other		216	10.78%	11%
18-29		178	8.88%	15%
30-44		418	20.86%	26%
45-59		664	33.15%	37%
60+		743	37.09%	22%
Northeast		217	10.83%	18.60%
South		846	42.24%	36.32%
Midwest		437	21.82%	25.45%
West		503	25.11%	19.63%
Source: Daily Kos/Research 2000,
Gallup, Pew Research Trust, CNN

In short, the Daily Kos poll has a bias that oversamples Southerners who are more extreme in their views (the poll also drastically undersamples the generally more moderate Republicans in the Northeast by over eight percentage points) and thus paints the GOP as more extreme than they really are. The Daily Kos poll is an inaccurate reflection of the national GOP but likely an accurate picture of the views of its Southern base which nonetheless does account for over one third of its electoral strength nationally. And that Southern base plagues the national GOP to a degree that cannot be overstated.