Tom Fudge: Over the next two months, pollsters are going to be very busy. They'll be hard at work guiding candidates and satisfying our curiousity about what may be the outcome of the November election. At the top of the list is, of course, the Presidential race. A Gallup poll at the end of last week showed Barack Obama with a nine-point lead over John McCain. Whether that's significant or not depends how much of a bump you think Obama should have gotten from the Democratic Convention.
But there are a lot of people who haven't made up their minds, and, as they say, the only poll that really matters is that unscientific poll they take on election day, when people cast their ballots. Even so, we'll take a little time to learn how public opinion is shaping up, on the Presidential race and on state and local issues. Californians are voting on a huge ballot, with a plethora of propositions. How will that affect the way people vote?
Guests
Dan Yankalovitch, one of America's best-known public opinion pollsters. He's currently president of Viewpoint Learning. He's former president of the polling organization Yankolovitch, Skelley and White.
John Nienstadt, president of Competitive Edge Research and Communication .
Mark Baldassari, president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California .
