Pollster recaps election results

A polling expert told the Sun City Grand Democratic Club Wednesday night that there was no way Sen. John McCain could have won the presidential election because he was linked to "one of the most unpopular presidents in the history of polling."

"Even though he lost, it's still impressive how he did despite the circumstances," said Bruce Merrill, a national polling expert and Arizona State University professor emeritus. "He was linked in with one of the most unpopular presidents in the history of polling, and there is a total financial meltdown with the economy. There was no way he really could have won."

Merrill, speaking in the Cimarron Center, said President-elect Barack Obama ran the better campaign and kept focus, trying to steer away from the negativity that McCain's campaign used.

"When people are scared to death about losing their jobs or homes, do you think people are worried about William Ayers?" he said.

Merrill conceded he never expected Obama to wrest the nomination from Hillary Clinton.

"Almost every pundit in America thought Hillary Clinton would win, not Barack Obama," he said. "The Clintons had spent their whole lives as Democrats, where Obama had only been in the U.S. Senate for 18 months. But we were wrong."

Merrill said a reason for Obama's victory stems from his campaign's use of the electronic media, particularly the Internet and television.

Arizona did not have the turnout of some other states in the Nov. 4 election because many potential voters thought the presidential race was a foregone conclusion.

"When we asked who they thought would win, more than half the Republicans believed Obama would along with two-thirds of the Democrats," Merrill said. "I think people here didn't think it made very much of a difference."

Closer to home, the pollster said reasons for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's re-election were clear from the start.

"Well, he's a celebrity, and every time his opponents attack him on immigration his popularity goes up," he said. "He's probably going to be sheriff for as long as he wants if he continues to run on an illegal immigration stance."

In the 1990s, Merrill founded a KAET/Channel 8 survey in conjunction with the ASU Cronkite School of Journalism. The monthly poll explores voters' opinions on controversial, political and social issues of the day.