Another Silly Poll

I know Greg Smith is a Republican, but for crying out loud, can we stop with these silly polls:

Greg Smith and Associates, a Boise opinion research and consulting firm, conducted the poll using randomly selected and statistically representative Idahoans living in North, Central and Southwestern Idaho who are likely to participate in either the Democratic caucus or Republican primary in February and May, 2008, respectively. The poll interviewed 253 voters July 11-13 and has a margin of error of 5.7%.

253 people is not a representative sample of anything. I don’t care if it shows 46% those likely to go to the polls have a negative opinion of Sali, a margin of +/- 5.7% is completely meaningless. Also, where’s a breakdown of what Republicans Primary goers say or Democratic voters? And why ask people who are likely to vote in the primary this question as it doesn’t represent the people of Idaho.

The poll’s also meaningless because a lot of the people who will vote in the primary aren’t here. Boise has in-migration like nuts. I voted in the 2004 Republican Primary and this time in 2003, I was still in Montana. Overall, these polls have got to get a lot better to tell us anything.