Polling

Polling

Even though the presidential race is a ways away, the media is buzzing about politicians that are expected to run. All of the major news outlets and polling data point to pretty much the same candidates. However, some candidates look more promising than others. The Republican Party is predicted to have more bids for president than the Democratic Party. Hillary Clinton is dominating the media buzz when it comes to the Democrats, which could potentially discourage other Democrats from running. However, there are about 5-6 Democrats that are continuously being talked about when it comes to presidential candidates and Martin O'Malley is one of them. 

Below is a poll taken by CNN asking Democrats and Independents who lean to the left which Democratic candidate they would most likely vote for.

Because Hillary Clinton is the clear frontrunner in this survey, they asked Clinton supporters who their second choice would be. 

What The Polls Mean For Martin O'Malley

These polls are helpful in many ways because they show who has the most support within the Democratic Party, however it's too early to put a lot of emphasis on these polls. Martin O'Malley is definitely in the conversation about the 2016 presidential race, but these polls show that he has a lot of work ahead of him. In previous blog posts I have discussed the issue of the other potential candidates being more nationally known, and these polls highlight that weakness. Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Elizabeth Warren are the most well known Democrats who could potentially run for president, but Clinton is proving to be the most well known name. 

What these polls mean for O'Malley is that he is going to have to work. It's a positive that he is being talked about as a potential candidate and he should use that momentum to begin building his candidate image. Because he is not as well known he's not being criticized as much as some of the other potential candidates, but it also means that he is not being talked about as much. 

Ballotpedia gave a slight bio on all the potential 2016 presidential candidates, and this is what they said about O'Malley:

This quote was given about two months ago which leads me to believe that he will most likely run in 2016. His campaign team needs to study the polls and begin working on a plan to get his name and his political accomplishments out into the public. O'Malley definitely has a mountain to climb based on these polls, but it's still very early and it can be done. 

Because Clinton has been dominating the media buzz for the Democrats, there were rumors that O'Malley might consider running for Senator instead of presidential bid. However, politico just confirmed that these rumors are untrue.  

Conclusions

There are many things that people can take away from political polls, but they can be hard to rely on so early into the race. It is clear that O'Malley has a lot of work ahead of him, but he's already started climbing the mountain. He's giving speeches at Democratic events, he's amping up his social media and he's building up his candidate image. I expect these polls to change quite a bit throughout the race and I think we will start to see O'Malley be more prominent. 

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/martin-omalley-barbara-mikulski-senate-seat-115691.html

http://www.pollingreport.com/wh16dem.htm

http://ballotpedia.org/Possible_presidential_candidates,_2016